


What The Hell, Universe?!

by gleechild



Series: What The Hell, Universe?! [1]
Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Merge, Slow Burn, The Originals References, Vampire Diaries References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:27:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 219,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23047771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleechild/pseuds/gleechild
Summary: Just when Hope thought she was free of Agent Clarke once and for all, the universe decided to mix things up a bit. Suddenly Hope is faced with a decision that could change all of their lives. What will she decide? HOLARKE. Spoilers through Season 2.
Relationships: Ryan Clarke/Hope Mikaelson
Series: What The Hell, Universe?! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827394
Comments: 451
Kudos: 315





	1. May I Have This Dance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"There. See? I told you. It's him."

"You're out of your bloody mind."

"I'm her mother, I know these things," Hayley said with a content smile.

"Why don't you go back to being at peace and let me watch over her without your input," Klaus grumbled.

"You just don't want to admit I'm right," she said with a gentle smirk.

"I want her to be happy, there's no way _he_ will do that," Klaus shook his head in disgust. "That other boy is fine for her."

"Landon is good for a first love," Hayley agreed with that part. "A pure and true first love, he's exactly what she needs _now_. But he isn't end game. It's too perfect. There's no fire, no passion."

"The other one just tried to _kill_ her, for crying out loud," Klaus argued. "That's not passion. That's hatred."

"He literally _just_ told her he doesn't hate her," Hayley pointed out. "And he didn't try to kill her; he tried to take over her body. To be _inside_ her. If that's not an innuendo, I don't know what is."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Spare me the insinuation. She doesn't even like him."

"If she didn't like him, would she offer to be there for him in his final moments?"

"She's being _polite_ ," Klaus enunciated. "You raised her to care about other people's feelings, remember? That was definitely all _you_."

Hayley smiled smugly, as if she knew something he didn't.

"Am I missing something? Do tell," Klaus demanded.

"Yeah, you're missing the part where you admit you like him," she replied.

Klaus sputtered. " _Like?!_ You think I _like_ the guy who tried to kill my daughter?!"

"You only _say_ you like her with Landon because he's the safest option, the least risky. But Landon, while a very nice boy, is not at all someone who would ever earn your respect. The do-gooder townie with a big heart? You would've eaten him for breakfast. He can't protect Hope. She'll spend all her time protecting him. And while she's more than capable of being the 'pants' in any relationship, you want someone for her on her level. Someone who will not only accept her but _understand_ her when it comes to the best and the _worst_ of her. Hope is a Mikaelson. She's a tribrid. One day she _will_ activate her vampire side, and when that time comes, we both know which of those boys are most capable of loving her for all her parts, including her darkest."

"Preposterous! She will have a great many loves before she finds 'the one' as we both well know. Saying _he's_ the _one_ is a bit premature. He isn't even close to being in her heart," Klaus tried to continue the argument but knew deep down she was correct at least about him liking the mud boy. The kid was resilient and, yes, Klaus found that very admirable. "What makes you so sure _he's_ the one for her? That she'll ever fall for him?"

"It won't be any time soon, _that's_ for sure," Hayley smirked. "But I'm positive it'll happen over time. And as to Hope, well, girls are sometimes drawn to the guys who remind them of their fathers."

Klaus drew himself up. "I am _not_ like that boy at all!"

"Oh, really?" Hayley shook her head. "Daddy issues driven by his need for love and approval coupled with his need for revenge? Feelings of epic loneliness? Struggling to understand love, especially the unconditional kind? None of that sounds familiar to you?"

Klaus glowered at her.

"She may not have seen it at first, but she's putting it all together," Hayley said. "Her compassion won't allow her to judge him too harshly. She's already forgiven him for trying to put his conscious in her. Not because it wasn't a crappy thing to do, but because she understands how desperate he was to survive."

"Well, unless a miracle happens, I think that time has passed..." Klaus said as he saw what transpired between Ryan Clarke and The Necromancer, watching as if it were a dream he shared with Hayley.

"Huh," Hayley murmured thoughtfully as the portal to Malivore closed after the sinking of Clarke's 'head'.

"I guess you were wrong," Klaus shrugged, feeling strangely disappointed.

"I wonder..."

* * *

Hope loved this dream.

Her family was holding a grand Christmas Ball. The Mikaelsons were known for throwing a heck of a party. Everywhere you turned garlands and lights and wreaths and bows hung delicately and joyously. The music played as couples danced. Family and friends mingled. Every guest was dressed to the nines. Men in tuxedos, a veritable wash of black and white, while the women wore the most fashionable of gowns made of the finest material.

If the Hollow had never set her sights on her, if her parents were still alive, _this_ is how she would spend her Christmas holidays. There was Aunt Freya over in the corner, calling to check in with the sitter while Keelin smiled at her tenderly. Then there was Uncle Kol snagging Davina beneath the mistletoe to steal a Christmas kiss; and, Aunt Rebekah dancing with Marcel, the two staring lovingly into each others eyes, each scarcely believing they were finally, truly, together.

Over by the fountain stood her parents and Uncle Elijah, their conversation must be enjoyable as they were all three smiling and laughing.

Hope smiled, observing them, feeling an inner peace she often felt only in her dreams where her parents were alive and well.

"May I have this dance?"

A hand reached out and clasped hers. She smiled down at the hand. Her gaze followed the path from hand to wrist and up the tuxedo clad arm to the face of her would-be dance partner. She was startled to see Ryan Clarke standing there with his smug little smirk.

In real life she would've immediately been cautious, but this was a dream. _Her_ dream. Her favorite dream, and nothing could mar it. For whatever reason, she had dreamed him up so, instead of fighting it, she turned to him and reached out with her free hand to rest against his shoulder, allowing him to lead her in the dance.

"What's all this?" he asked, indicating the room.

"Christmas," she replied. "Or rather, what Christmas would be like if my parents were still alive."

He looked around the room, taking it all in. There was a genuine smile on his face. "I think I would've liked to experience this."

"Me too," she murmured. "But...I only get to in my dreams."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"What for?" she shrugged. "I lost my shot at this long before I ever met you."

"You wouldn't be dreaming of Christmas' that never passed if I hadn't insisted you help give me my very first one," he said.

She smiled, bemused. "I don't mind the dream, besides, it was the least I could do knowing you wouldn't survive the night."

"So...about that—" He began to explain something rather important but cut off when he saw she was distracted. "Hope?"

Hope was no longer paying attention to him. She spotted her father leaving the party and felt the uncontrollable urge to follow him. She slipped her hand from Clarke's, hardly noticing her actions, and took off after her dad.

Clarke had little choice but to follow. He needed to get her to listen to him, but it was proving difficult as this was her dreamscape. Dreams were tricky things, and this was the new path forming in her mind. So he silently trailed behind her, walking briskly but keeping a distance. He didn't want to spook her.

They went through a set of large doors into a hallway, dark around the edges, with a clear path straight ahead. They passed many doors, but none seemed to draw Hope's focus, not even the oddly glowing blue door that certainly peaked Clarke's interest.

Finally, they came upon a scene that gave him pause.

Klaus Mikaelson, the original hybrid, was in the process of tearing a few people apart, ripping out their hearts, the snarl on his face coupled with his gleaming teeth dripping with blood was enough to strike fear in anyone, even making Clarke wary.

"D-D-Dad?..." It wasn't the voice of a teenaged Hope, it was that of a little girl, even though the person standing in front of Clarke with her back to him was definitely still the older Hope.

Klaus' head whipped up and he took in Hope standing there. 

He screamed, "GET OUT!"

Clarke watched as Hope seemed frozen, shaking. He didn't know what this scene was—an actual memory, a distortion of a memory, or just her dreams playing tricks on her. Either way, it was a nightmare and clearly traumatizing her which meant he had to intervene if only so he could talk to her before she woke up.

He reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder.

She suddenly turned with a snarl, baring teeth gleaming just as brightly as her father's, plunged her hand into his chest and tore his heart out before he could even gasp her name.

Hope woke with a start, flinging herself up, and breathing hard.

_What was_ _that?_

She knew the dreams. She had both of them before. She knew exactly what they meant. 

The first was her perfect family Christmas. It was everything she could've ever hoped for. The second was the memory of walking in on her Dad when she was little. She knew that dream usually dissolved into her becoming just as vicious. She had a fear of triggering her vampire side and no longer being able to control herself. She adored her father, but there were many ways in which she didn't want to follow in his footsteps. That was one of them.

No, the part that confused her was that her dreams held Clarke this time. After the phone conversation with him earlier that night, he would've been dead minutes after they hung up. While she felt a slight twinge of something knowing that he had no one else to turn to in those final moments, there was nothing else she could've done for him. His situation was his own. At least his death meant the portal to Malivore was closed again.

Maybe that twinge she felt was coming through subconsciously in her dreams. She dreamed of Clarke at her perfect family Christmas because she just spent a "Christmas" with him. She didn't question that part so much as the part with Dad. Clarke followed her. Why would she dream that? She wouldn't have ever wanted him to know about that particularly violent moment with her father. She especially would never admit one of her deepest darkest fears to _Clarke,_ of all people.

She shook her head. Hopefully that would be the only strange dream she had that night. She glanced over to where Landon slept peacefully in Raf's bed. She was glad her nightmare hadn't disturbed him. She lay down and tried to go back to sleep.

Tossing and turning, she couldn't get comfortable. She could feel this weird hum coming off her skin, almost like a buzz. No matter how she moved, she couldn't calm down enough to make it stop.

She needed sleep because she would have to face Josie again tomorrow. When Landon first ran away, they had talked and gotten to an okay place. But after the events of tonight, when Landon had broken up with Josie for Hope, she knew things were going to get awkward again. She was nervous and just wanted her friendship with Josie to go back to normal. She knew that wasn't feasible, but if she was going to make it happen she needed _rest_.

Which proved to be impossible, apparently, so she gave up. If she couldn't get any rest, she would do the next best thing to prepare for her talk with Josie.

She would talk to her.

Well, not really. But talking to prism-Landon always helped. Talking to prism-Josie would definitely go a long way to helping her figure out the right thing to say. Too bad her original prism was destroyed when Clarke jumped into the pit using SimuLandon's body. A day hadn't gone by before she realized she missed the comfort of having that prism. She told Josie she didn't need it anymore, and she thought she didn't, but she was wrong. So, she contacted Emma before everyone got so 'merry' for help in creating a new one. Fortunately the supplies were at the school and the spell was easy enough. She had placed it among her meager possessions. Now, she found it quickly before sneaking out.

She set it up in a perfect spot by the dock. Everyone was exhausted from fighting the Krampus and celebrating Santa; the school was quiet as a tomb at this time of night.

She placed the prism on the wood and stepped back as she prepared to talk to her subconscious.

"This works too."

Her head sprang up in shock and she gasped, "What?"

Clarke looked around, stepped gingerly, testing to make sure the ground was solid enough for him. " _Very_ glad you made another one of those prism things."

"What are you doing here!?" she demanded to know. "You should be dead! Did you even close the portal?! Please don't tell me you found another loophole."

"Here's the thing," he sat on the dock edge and dangled his legs quite gleefully over the water. "I don't know what happened. I was getting ready to jump into the pit. I'm pretty sure someone took me out from behind. There was a sharp unexpected pain. I saw a flash of silver, then nothing."

"Then...how are you here?" she was flabbergasted.

"Near as I can tell, it's because of you," he guessed. "Your blood."

Hope grimaced. This wasn't the first time her blood had gotten her in trouble.

"I'm not corporeal," he waved his hand. "I have no body. The next thing I remember is you. I was at this fancy Christmas party. I honestly thought I was in heaven at first. Which is ridiculous, of course," he snickered at himself. "I'm not human, I'm not alive the way most people are alive. I don't get to go to heaven."

"So when you were in my dream..." Hope trailed off, slowly connecting the dots.

"I really was _in_ your dream," he said. "I tried to tell you but you got distracted and left before I could, so I followed you."

"You shouldn't have done that," she murmured, still trying to understand what was happening.

"Sorry?" he shrugged. "You're the one who yanked my heart out of my chest, maybe you should apologize to me."

"Sorry?" she returned sarcastically.

"Besides your father, the blue glowing door was interesting," he hedged his explanation because he really wanted to know what was behind that door.

She glared hard, "You think you're the only one to ever try to take over my body? You're just the only one that didn't succeed."

Clarke paused, momentarily sidetracked by that revelation.

"What?" She sighed. "I was seven, the evil was defeated...eventually. Let's move along because I'm still trying to understand why you were even in my dreams to begin with, and why you're here now?"

"I think putting my conscious into that fake Landon body created a link to you since it was pumped full of your blood. When that body was destroyed, my essence must have sought you out because of that link."

"So now you're, what?" she asked with growing horror. "Trapped in..." she looked at the prism, eyes widening in comprehension, "my subconscious?!"

"Yes," he clapped once. "Bravo! You figured it out."

"Oh no, this is _not_ happening," she backed away in denial.

"Hey, at least there's an easy fix," he stood up. "Just get me another body."

She scoffed, "Oh, yeah, sure, let me just go pick one up at Costco! Are you out of your mind?"

He shrugged. "It's either that, or, well, I guess you're stuck with me."

She groaned.

"I'm sure you can figure something out," he said. "You _are_ pretty clever."

"Gee, thanks," she glared at him. "And what makes you think I'm going to do what you want me to do? How about I find a spell to unlink you? Then you can just, I don't know, exist in the ether!"

Clarke glared right back at her, trying not to show his fear. "Don't do that."

"Why?" she huffed. "Why should I help you? Why _would_ I help you? Forget what you tried to do to me, what about what you've done to Landon and who you've killed to survive? Why should I forget all about that just to give you another chance to do it all again?!"

"Because I can give you information about the merge," he figured that was the most valuable thing he had to barter with.

"I don't believe you," she snapped back, though he could tell her mind was racing, wondering if he could possibly know something useful.

"And I promise not to hurt you or any of your friends," he continued.

"How about _anyone_?" she exclaimed. "Why not just promise not to hurt anyone ever again? I mean, that'd be just as believable as any other promise from you."

"Hope, I told you before, I'm not a villain," he pointed out. "Before, I did everything I could to help my father thinking I couldn't survive without him. That's why I feared him so much. But look at me now. No body, no mud, no part of him, and yet I'm still here. Just give me a body that doesn't require me to kill to survive, and I won't hurt another living thing again, I promise," he thought briefly, then clarified, "unless it's in self defense but, I mean, that should be allowed, right?"

Hope stared at him in quiet contemplation.

"Please," he said softly. He had pled with her enough during their acquaintance to know that it was nearly pointless to do so. She would do what was best for her. He was banking on her friendship with the twins to get her to give in to him just this once.

"I'll think about it," she finally said.

He nodded. At least she didn't flat out deny him.

"So, I guess the prism isn't going to work the way it's supposed to until you're gone, huh?" she looked down at the piece of glowing light. And she had put so much work into getting a new one, darn it.

"Guess not," he said. "But hold onto it. It's too hard to try to talk to you in your dreams. This is better. Just know that your subconscious does this weird buzzing thing whenever I try to talk to you when you're awake."

"That was you?" she said, exasperated.

"I was trying to talk to you, and you'd woken up," he explained.

"If you had stopped talking, I could've gone back to sleep, you know," she grumbled.

"Right," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes at the smirk. "Goodnight, Clarke."

"Goodnight, Hope."

She snatched up the prism and deactivated it.

As she stared out into the night, alone...though not really _alone_... she admitted to herself that she had no idea what to do. Even if she wanted to help him, she didn't know how to create a sustainable body for him. Josie had created the simuLandon body using black magic. Hope figured that was how the link to her blood formed. There's always a repercussion for using black magic. Somehow she knew using black magic to help Clarke would backfire on her again.

Of course, if she decided not to help Clarke, performing an unlinking spell should be easy enough. But what if Clarke really _did_ know something about the merge? He lived so many lifetimes, collecting so much information along the way. If anyone would know something, it could very well be him. Could she ignore this chance to help Lizzie and Josie? If Clarke really knew something, even Caroline could come home and the girls could have their mother back.

Hope had a huge decision to make and she was stumped.

And she _really_ didn't like that after everything she had just been through, Clarke _still_ found a way inside her. The universe clearly had a sense of humor.

Before she would be able to sleep that night though, she had to make sure the portal to Malivore was really closed. If it wasn't, then she was in for a long night of portal guarding.

She groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Holarke (Hopan) Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wFIv3qUIManDMChxUwKuu?si=ft9dSjV8QxytErJQEynGFw) \- I compiled this list of songs from my own favorites, songs used in Holarke fanvids that I love, and MiKaYlAgOmEz09's Hopan playlist on Youtube. I consider it my muse while I write. Sharing in hopes that others might enjoy it as much as me. If you have any song suggestions, feel free to comment and let me know! :)


	2. Intimacy Not Your Strong Suit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"You're mad."

"Obviously," Hope said, giving Clarke a perturbed look.

"I think Alyssa Chang makes a lovely roommate," he smirked, strolling over to Alyssa's side of the room, snooping even though he couldn't pick up anything as he discovered when he tried.

She rolled her eyes, "Not what I meant, but if you know about me and Alyssa than you know why I'm talking to you right now."

Hope wasn't having the best day. She finally moved back into the Salvatore School to find that she no longer had a single. Her new roommate hardly inspired peace and love. It was going to be a long semester dealing with _that_. Plus, this was the school she grew up in, but she had no idea where anything was. How could an entire school change in the little time she was away? Knowing things were weird with Josie again didn't help either. She knew it wasn't going to be easy, but she was hoping Josie wouldn't close off from her completely. She needed to find a way in, a legit reason to talk to Josie.

That reason came in the form of Lizzie, the twin she had become surprisingly close with recently. After she listened to the blonde's latest crisis—namely sleeping with Sebastian even though she was pretty sure she hated him—she told Lizzie that the Malivore portal was, in fact, closed. She was happy to report that she found it dormant last night. She was going to segue into telling her friend the current predicament with Clarke, but she never got that far. It seemed Clarke, in the form of their headmaster, had prompted Josie to create an hourglass filled with all of her excess black magic.

Hope promised Lizzie to look into it and find a way to help. She spoke with Vincent first to get all the pertinent details on the mora miserium. Before she went to Josie though, she wanted to see if Clarke could shed some light on how to defuse the sand clock. He helped create it, he clearly knew more than everyone. She had just the incentive to prompt him too.

"There isn't a way to nullify the power," Clarke affirmed. "Not that I know of."

It bothered her a bit that Clarke knew everything that was happening around her, and even knew her thoughts. It didn't bother her quite as much as she thought it would, but it did bother her. She had to live with it for now though.

"So there's nothing floating around in that memory of yours?" Hope insisted. "Not even if I said it would be a show of good faith to help you get that body you want so much?"

"Given how much I want a body, I'd tell you anything you want to know. Alas," he sighed, wondering back over to Hope's sparse side of the room. He surveyed the bed curiously. "I don't know."

"What are you doing?" Hope asked, unable to ignore his movements any longer.

"I can't pick up any objects but I could sit on the dock last night, so I wonder..." Clarke turned and sat on the edge of the bed. "Interesting."

Hope looked heavenward. "Focus, Clarke, can you tell me _anything_ to help us destroy the sand clock?"

"You could break it?" he suggested, bouncing on the edge of the bed. The bed didn't move but he did.

"But if we break it, all that power will go rushing back to Josie," she argued.

"So? Josie becomes more powerful. I don't see the problem," he shrugged.

"That's not the kind of power any of us want."

"Speak for yourself."

Hope made eye contact with him, all sarcasm gone.

"How could you do that to her?" she asked softly.

"I was doing her a favor," he explained, eyes flashing at the insinuation that he had done anything wrong. " _She_ made the choice to siphon all the black magic from that samurai sword. I simply gave her a place to put it."

"She wouldn't have been messing with black magic in the first place if you hadn't encouraged her," Hope said.

"Because she never once did black magic before I arrived?" Clarke asked, knowing full well she had.

Hope bit her lip. He was right. Josie had been dabbling in black magic and a lot of those times it was Hope playing the instigator. Clarke just convinced Josie to take it to a level she wasn't comfortable with.

Clarke smirked, "Now I ask, how could _you_ do that to her?"

Infuriated that he, once again, knew what she was thinking before she said it, she had to ask, "How does this subconscious thing work? Do you know everything that I'm thinking and feeling?"

"Pretty much," he answered smugly.

Knowing it and hearing it were two different things. She wasn't quite as okay with it as she was five seconds ago.

"Even more an incentive to get me a body," Clarke insisted. "You should've told Lizzie when you wanted to earlier. She could help."

"She's terrible at keeping secrets from Josie," Hope replied. "And before you say it, no. I'm not telling Josie. Not yet anyway." She didn't think Josie would take kindly to knowing Clarke was still alive. She would insist on doing the unlinking spell immediately, that Clarke was just manipulating them with merge information.

"What about Landon?" Clarke was on his feet again, wondering over to the window and looking out at the view.

"What _about_ Landon? He can't help," she said quickly.

"Why haven't you told him about me yet?" he asked.

Hope didn't want to answer that, at least not out loud. She should've told Landon immediately but she didn't want him to be weird around her. She just got him back. If Clarke knew everything that was happening to her, then he also knew...

"Yeah, that was...disturbing," he said. "The awkward hug thing. Can you try not to make out with my brother while I'm in here?"

 _That_ was why.

"This is impossible," she mumbled.

"You know how to make it stop," he reminded her.

Grabbing and deactivating the prism was her only answer.

* * *

_PLEASE make it stop_ .

Experiencing Hope and Josie making up was kind of excruciating. Hope knew she had to be open with Josie if she wanted to reach her, but it had hurt Hope on a subconscious level to reveal something so personal.

Within Hope's subconscious, Clarke didn't appreciate reliving the moment she discovered Landon and Josie had moved on without her. It felt like a thousand tiny little daggers were stabbing him all at once.

In the end, it was worth it to Hope because she got to a good place with Josie. Clarke was just relieved it was over.

He was still adjusting to being a part of someone's subconscious. It was kind of fascinating. He spent centuries observing humans, but he could never really experience what it was like to _be_ human from the inside. The emotions were overwhelming at first. He marveled at the many different places her psyche took him. One second she was annoyed, then regretful, then loving, then uncertain, and the emotions went on and on.

For the longest time, he only ever felt few emotions. Maybe that was all he was capable of? He knew anger, rejection, and vengeance. At one point, he felt a complete _lack_ of emotion, that was when he returned to the pit to be with his father. After that, there was nothing but loneliness. Even when his father set him free, there was only this mind numbing urge to do anything to please his father in the hope that he would one day see his value. He hadn't felt many other emotions until he was dragged back into the pit of Malivore.

Scared of what awaited him, he arrived to find that things had changed and he wasn't alone this time. She was there. He found himself revealing things to her that he never told anyone about himself. How _could_ he? No one else would ever believe such a farfetched story. And if they did, they wouldn't have stuck around long enough to learn how he felt about it.

The truth was, arguing and verbally sparring with her was the first time he felt truly alive in...well, forever.

When Hope opened her dorm room door and saw Josie and Landon in her room, Clarke tried to brace himself for any sudden pain.

Instead, he experienced something quite different.

"What's all this?" she asked.

"Just a little something to make you feel more at home," Landon explained.

Looking around, Hope—and Clarke—took in the school supplies neatly arranged, the photos of family and friends, the sign on the wall declaring her name, and...the Christmas lights. The hitch in Hope's breath at taking in the Christmas lights was the only indication that they affected her differently and Clarke was the only one to notice it. She was thinking of her dream from last night—flashes of the gala, her family, and dancing with Clarke.

"Not exactly how it was but we thought maybe you might like it if we changed it up a little bit," Josie said hopefully.

Clarke was suddenly flooded with an emotion that could only be described as pure happiness.

Everything else fell away as Hope reached for two of the most important people in the world to her, holding them tightly. Everything got so messed up when she jumped into the pit. This was the moment when everything was finally right again. All of her fears were for naught.

The experience shook him to the core.

* * *

She was back to wondering down corridors.

When she was awake he had no control, but it was different in her dreams. He could talk and move at his own pace. For instance, as she once again passed the glowing blue door, he gave pause. He could see her in the distance, wondering aimlessly. He knew eventually something interesting could happen, but he had been wondering about this door too much. He wanted to give in to his curiosity.

When she told him that someone else had taken over her body as a child, he wondered what great evil had escaped Triad's notice. Admittedly, Triad knew of the Mikaelsons but they tended to leave them alone. The pit wasn't a place for vampires after all.

He gripped the door handle, preparing to struggle to open it, but it gave easily.

The entire room held the same blue glow. He glanced around, walking further into the room. He didn't see anyone at first, but then he noticed the child in the furthest corner of the room. She was sitting on the floor against the wall. Her eyes were closed and she was shivering.

As he watched, a man approached the girl on the floor and tried to take her in his arms. Clarke recognized him as Klaus Mikaelson from the last dream. The man appeared greatly worried and troubled, especially when he couldn't hold her.

"I'm here," the hybrid said, making his presence known to the little girl.

Barely able to open her eyes, she murmured, "The Hollow came. I tried to fight her...everything is so dark, so cold... I'm tired." She was clearly fading fast.

"Hope!" Klaus called out gently. "Listen to me. You have to stay awake. You need to stay with me. Can you do that?" He was trying to insist without scaring her. She needed to understand the importance of his words.

"I'll try," she struggled to keep her eyes open, wanting to do as her father asked.

"Open your eyes. You can't fall asleep," Klaus instructed again, seeing her eyes fall shut for a moment. "I'm going to tell you a story... Before you were born, I was a very different creature. I was cruel. I was mean, and I would revel in the terror which I inspired in others. But, Hope, from the moment I saw you I wanted nothing more than to be worthy of being your father."

Hope stared up at him, wide-eyed, listening avidly.

"I'm afraid, Hope," he admitted. "I'm afraid without you, I'll return to the darkness. So I need you. I need you to fight."

"I will, Daddy," she promised.

" _What are you doing!?_ "

Clarke turned around swiftly, spotting Hope in the doorway.

"You shouldn't be in here!" she marched into the room, grabbing his arm to drag him out.

"Hope—" Before he could say anything else, the world starting spinning.

They both spun wildly into a void of shades of blue. Her grip became impossibly tighter on his arm. He grabbed hold of her other arm with his free hand. They couldn't do much else but grit their teeth and try to hold on. The spinning kept going faster and faster until it finally cut off with a thump.

"Are you serious?!!"

Hope woke abruptly, sprawled on the floor rather ungracefully. She whimpered at the pain in her big toe from kicking something hard on her way down.

Alyssa, who had pushed her face mask up to rest on her head, turned her nightstand lamp on and leaned forward. "Did you _seriously_ just fall out of bed? Could you _be_ anymore of a loser?"

"Go back to sleep, Alyssa," Hope grumbled as she climbed back up into bed.

"Like I can sleep through all that noise," her roommate said. "You're ruining my beauty sleep. And the great Hope Mikaelson fell out of bed. Wow, I'd be angrier if I didn't have the perfect story to entertain my friends with tomorrow."

"What friends?" she said sarcastically, trying to refashion her blankets from the twisted mess they had become.

Alyssa drew herself up. "Don't worry, Hope, I'm sure everyone will only laugh a little."

Giving up on her blankets with a frustrated sigh, Hope stood and pulled sweats atop her pajama shorts.

"What are you doing?"

"Whatever I want," Hope replied. She walked into her slip-on shoes, grabbed her sweater and prism before leaving as quickly as possible.

She pulled the sweater over her head and walked briskly down the hall. She figured she would be able to crash in Landon's room again so she wouldn't have to chance facing Alyssa once more that night. But first, she needed to have a little talk with Clarke.

* * *

"We need to establish some boundaries."

"I'll try," Clarke said with a smug little quirk to his lips. He sat on the bench by the dock this time. "Not sure it's possible given the circumstances."

"You could've stopped yourself from going into that particular memory," Hope said sternly. She decided not to sit, she was too restless. "It's not locked, but I know it's not a place my mind goes. I built it that way."

"You built a room inside your mind?" He was even more intrigued.

Hope sighed. "I learned it from my grandmother, just added a few bits of my own."

She spent so much of her life dealing with The Hollow, losing so much; it was easy for her to slip into intense memories of that time. She didn't like thinking about it, so she tucked those memories away. She remembered her uncle's red door and decided to do a variation of her grandmother's spell on herself. Too much of her life was intertwined with The Hollow for her to pull out that memory altogether. Even if she wanted to, the lesson she learned from it needed to stay with her. She never wanted to repeat _that_ again.

"I did, you know?" her voice grew soft, lost in the memories, seeing the end of the scene that played out for Clarke in that room.

"When Dad asked, I fought, and I kept fighting," she explained. "Eventually a plan was formed to get her out of me. I had nothing to do with it. But I fought with everything I could to keep her from sealing herself inside of me until I didn't have to fight anymore...

"It didn't help him though," she continued. "I fought for him, but he still had to go. The Hollow was too strong. They split her power into four and put her into my family members, four original vampires, the only ones strong enough to keep her contained. Then they couldn't be near each other, or me, ever again. They stayed apart...

"Or, at least they did until a rebellious teenager decided she was tired of never seeing her father and then took the steps to get him to come home, which led to the death of said teenager's parents and uncle," she finished grimly. She didn't know why she was telling Clarke the story, maybe to assuage his curiosity so he wouldn't open that particular door again. Maybe because she had to get it off her chest now that she was flooded with the memories. Either way, it was done.

She went silent as she tucked the memories away and closed the door.

"So, boundaries," she said, voice a little lighter.

Clarke struggled with the change in emotions again. Before she closed them off, he was filled with remorse and guilt, two emotions he most definitely had never felt.

"I won't go there again," he promised. He squirmed a little. She had closed off the remorse and guilt, so why did he still feel the guilt? She definitely didn't look or feel guilty now. No, she was only mildly annoyed. So why...he realized _he_ was the one feeling guilty for intruding upon her memory. _Huh._

"It's more than that," she said. "I took Dream Interpretation. Spinning into an endless void? I don't feel in control of my own mind anymore, and you knowing everything is too...awkward."

 _Intimate._ The word flashed through her head although she said something different at the last minute. He still 'heard' it. And he couldn't deny it. He was probably closer to her than any other person had ever been. He was learning all there was to know about Hope Mikaelson.

"Intimacy not your strong suit?" he asked with a lopsided grin.

"Clarke!" she groaned. "That's what I mean!"

"Look, I don't know what you want me to do," he said. "I can't turn it off."

"Have you _tried_?" she asked. "Have you tried to just not pay attention to at least what I'm thinking?"

"Not even remotely," he said. Why would he want to?

"Then do it!" Her eyes flashed in warning.

She didn't have to say the rest, she thought it. If he couldn't find a way to give her some space she would perform the spell to unlink him—merge information be damned.

Well, as long as she _believed_ he found a way, that problem was easy enough to get around.

"I'll do my best," he agreed, already formulating a plan.

She nodded.

"But couldn't you, just, I don't know..." he drew out. " _Give_ me a body and then you'll be done with all this?"

"I haven't decided yet," she said.

"What's the hold up?"

"I don't trust you. How can I give you what you want knowing you could just turn around and make me regret doing it? And do you _really_ know about the merge?" she said. "How can I believe anything you say?"

"Why would I lie?" he asked. "If I can't fulfill my end of the deal, what's to stop you from destroying me? And, from my point of view, what's to stop you from destroying me _after_ you get what you want?"

"I would never do that," she said. "I don't break my promises."

"Like you said you'd find a way to get us both out of Malivore?" he asked.

"That was before I found out you were lying to me, keeping me there, when I could've been out months earlier," she defended.

"I tried to plead with you then," he said. "Actually, twice now I've begged you to help me and made a promise in return. Both times you couldn't be bothered."

"That's not fair," she said. "I would've taken you with me out of Malivore if I could, but there wasn't any way. I told you, I had to get back."

"In a rush to get back to the very friends who betrayed you, right?" he said a little too harshly.

"They didn't know what they were doing," she said.

"But, they should have right? At least Landon should have," he said, unapologetically speaking her thoughts aloud just to make it more painful for her—no matter how much it hurt her subconsciously. He wanted to feel the pain. "If it really was an epic love, he never would have looked elsewhere. He told you he'd seen glimpses of you every time he died. But he didn't try to find you."

Her eyes stung, and she hated that he was using her own insecurities against her.

"Why are you saying that?" she asked. "Are you trying to make me angry enough to unlink you?"

"Did you _once_ think about finding a way to get me out of Malivore after you left?" he asked.

"No..." she trailed off, realizing suddenly why he was acting this way. "I didn't think of you at all until you dropped the illusion."

"That's what I thought."

"I hurt your feelings," she said, a bit astonished at the revelation.

He glared at her.

"I left you behind, never thought of you at all, and I hurt your feelings," she said again, still wrapping her mind around it.

She continued, "You made that deal with Malivore to get out of the pit not because Malivore wanted me gone, but because you wanted to hurt me back."

"You screwed me, Hope," he didn't deny her words. "And not in the good way."

"I'm sorry," she said wholeheartedly. She hadn't realized she actually had the power to hurt his feelings. If she did though, that meant... Clarke was a lot lonelier than she ever realized. He had told her so himself, she just didn't realize the true extent.

"Place your pity elsewhere," he smirked. "We're long past that."

"Right..." She didn't mention that the only reason they were talking about this now was because his bitterness brought it to the forefront. She didn't have to mention it, of course. He already knew.

"I'll work on blocking your thoughts tomorrow," he mumbled glumly.

"And undisturbed sleep until then?" she asked hopefully.

"If you dream, I won't follow," he gave in.

He didn't much feel like exploring more at the moment anyway. He suddenly had the desire to get as far away from her as possible.


	3. You Mean No One Even Buried Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

_Had Chemistry of Magic always been this boring?_ Hope wondered, but knew it wasn't her teacher's fault.

She was tired. Two nights of interrupted sleep was finally catching up with her. She ended up returning to her room last night instead of going to Landon's because she knew he was probably already asleep in his bed. If she went in, she couldn't sleep in Raf's bed—as a werewolf herself she wouldn't dare leave her scent behind for him to discover whenever he returned. She couldn't do that to him.

And if she tried to get Landon to switch, she would have to wake him up. Then she would have to explain why she was there and probably talk a bit longer. She was too tired to do anything but sleep. So, she cast a silent spell over herself and quietly returned to her bed. Thankfully she hadn't woken Alyssa again.

She had almost gotten through the early morning without having to speak to her roommate, but, as luck would have it, she forgot her textbook. She definitely didn't need to see _that_ —or smell it later on her sheets. _Ew_.

She also didn't need to keep hearing Alyssa's words over and over again in her head. _"Have fun holding hands."_ She was sure Clarke was having a field day with that whole scene. He always seemed to take delight in things like that. His comment about intimacy the day before was proof of it.

Assuming, of course, that he hadn't already figured out a way to block out her thoughts, he was probably laughing at her for thinking about his reaction, and now he was laughing at her for thinking he was laughing, and— _oh my God, STOP!_

She closed her eyes to stop her mind from spinning down that crazy never ending path.

As her mind cleared, she started drifting off, forgetting that she was in class and instead thinking about Landon.

She lay back on her pillows, giggling softly as Landon joined her. He grinned from above before leaning down to kiss her softly. One kiss became two, then three, and soon they were both breathless but didn't want to stop for air. She reached up and ran her fingers through his boisterous curls, pulling him closer.

"Alyssa Chang wasn't too far off from that hand holding thing. Even your fantasies are PG."

She looked toward her doorway, though dream Landon used the distraction to move to her neck.

"Boundaries," she said breathlessly, glaring at Clarke. He was supposed to be backing off. This was the furthest from that.

"You're sleeping in class," he said, keeping his trademark smirk in place, though his eyes were averted uncomfortably. "Pay attention, Miss Mikaelson."

"Miss Mikaelson? _Miss Mikaelson!_ "

Hope's eyes shot open!

"Yes?" She asked sharply, sitting up straight.

"Turn to page one hundred-fifty-six," her teacher instructed, giving her a pointed look.

"Yes, ma'am," she quickly flipped to the page, hearing the snickers from some of her classmates. She sighed. Alyssa had already started telling people about the incident last night. She assumed her falling asleep in class was just a reminder to everyone she hadn't slept well. She didn't care, she just wished she didn't have to put up with the childishness. She had too many other important things on her mind.

_Like, the world's biggest child stuck in her subconscious._

* * *

He knew that smell.

As Hope was running to class after arguing with her roommate, she walked through something. Or, rather, Hope thought she felt a strange chill. Clarke, though, he knew immediately what happened. There was something invisible, without shape or form, wondering the halls of the school.

And he smelled it. That cloy, dank, foul stench. He spent decades floating in it. There was no mistaking the odor.

Since the portal in town square was closed, his father must have a portal somewhere else and no one knew where.

He was preoccupied with his own thoughts for once and missed it completely when Hope fell asleep in class. He was immediately dragged into her dreamscape, disoriented.

At least she wasn't making out with Landon in real life like he had asked her not to. He knew he should back out and stay away like _she_ asked him to but something made him interrupt. She _did_ need to wake up, so why not be a gentleman and help her out?

And if he maybe interrupted because he didn't like seeing them together, well, she didn't need to know.

* * *

In the end, it was the butterflies that snapped her out of it.

As Emma sent the sphere away in a burst of magical golden butterflies, Hope remembered the last time she performed a comfort spell. It was for Clarke, in the pit, when talking about his father upset him. With that thought jarring her, she thought over the past few minutes and realized something was wrong. They were all out of control, and it wasn't safe for anyone if the witches couldn't control themselves.

She left with Lizzie to find help, hoping someone could shed some light on the current situation. Help, oddly, came in the form of Wade and Landon. She tried to control her words but it was useless. Lizzie egging her on wasn't making it any easier.

When the boys explained that the Kareen whispered insecurities to cause arguments, she remembered that Emma's green sphere represented the collective thoughts and emotions. If this new creature was playing with her emotions, messing with her mind, it could be hurting Clarke.

On the way to the library Hope thought loudly, _Clarke, are you okay?_

She knew he couldn't verbally answer her but whenever he tried to talk to her she could feel it vibrate in her skin. She waited, not realizing she was holding her breath.

He knew he should ignore her so that he could later tell her he succeeded in finding a way to block her out, but he could feel her worry. He decided he would just tell her he spent the day fighting the Kareen for her head space so he hadn't been able to focus on the task she assigned him.

"I'm good," he tried to say.

She felt the answering hum. Sighing with relief, she focused back on her friends just in time to put both Landon _and_ Wade down epically.

This monster really sucked.

* * *

"You were worried about me," he said with a stupid crooked smirk. He seemed pleased.

"Yes," she sighed. She shouldn't have taken the time to find a private spot to talk to Clarke through the prism after the monster was defeated, there was too much going on, but she couldn't help herself. She wanted to make sure he really was okay.

"You're going to miss the coven circle," he said, looking at the clock on the wall.

"No, I'm not. There's still time," she said.

"Well, as you can see," he gestured toward himself. "I'm fine."

She nodded. "Right. Good."

"Was there anything else?" he asked.

"Yes," she hesitated. She wondered why he didn't already know what she was about to say. "Did you figure out a way to block my thoughts?"

"Quite accidentally, yes," he said. "I'm doing it right now. Happy?"

"How?" she eyed him, wondering if he was lying.

He nodded reluctantly, reading the look on her face. "Okay, I _did_ plan to lie about it, but then I smelled the Kareen and was so distracted by my own thoughts that I blocked out yours. I can block your thoughts by thinking my _own_ thoughts. I have to think them loudly, but I can do it. I'm not going to do it all the time though. Warn me when you want me to."

"You smelled the Kareen?" she asked, perplexed. "How? You don't have a nose."

"Right, how could that possibly escape my notice," he replied sarcastically with a laugh. " _You_ do. And I recognized the smell even though you didn't."

"Oh," she said. She fell silent, deep in thought.

"You look pensive," he observed. "And I'm trying _really_ hard not to dive into your thoughts."

"I'm going to help you," she said finally.

He stood up straighter, "You mean...?"

"I'm going to get you a body...somehow," she said.

"Why the change of heart?" he asked. "Not that I'm complaining. Just curious."

"The twins need the merge information," she said. _And I worried about you,_ she continued in her thoughts, relieved he wasn't paying attention at that moment. If she cared enough to worry about his well-being, then she cared too much to just let him cease to exist.

"Right..." he trailed off, eyes twinkling.

At least she _hoped_ he wasn't paying attention right then. He was probably just happy and relieved she was going to help him, that's why he looked at her that way.

"I just have no idea how to make you a body," she said, turning her attention to their next problem. "The easiest way would be to use a body that already exists. From beyond the grave, my grandmother was able to put herself and two of my uncles into some witches. Maybe we could find a comatose patient... except she did that by transferring their souls to the bodies. I don't suppose you have one of those?"

"Pretty sure I don't," he shrugged.

"Didn't think so," she heaved a sigh. "It's too bad we can't just use your original body."

"Why not?" He asked. "Where'd you put it?"

"Um...nowhere?" she said.

"You mean no one even buried me?" He looked downright disgruntled at the thought.

"We couldn't?" she tried to explain, sputtering a little. "I locked you up and then had to deal with some...damage control. And...I guess by the time anyone thought about your, uh, body it wasn't there? We figured since it was so old and made from mud, it just...you know, disintegrated."

He stared at her silently. It was his turn to look pensive.

"What are you thinking?"

"I told you, I smelled the Kareen," he began.

She nodded.

"It smelled like Malivore. It's a stench I've become quite accustomed to," he wrinkled his nose.

"But the portal is closed..." she shook her head because even she knew if strange creatures were attacking the school again that statement couldn't be as true as everyone thought.

"Not unless someone found a way to create a new portal," he said. "Using the same substance that Malivore is made of."

Hope's eyes widened. "You think someone used your body to create a new portal?"

"I do," he frowned in anger.

"But who?" She feared there was a new player ever since the Sphinx told Doctor Saltzman he had a new master.

"I don't know, but if we can figure that out and find the threshold, do you think you could reverse what was done to create the portal? Get my original body back? And make sure it won't break down?"

"I can certainly try," she said. "But I'm going to need help."

He nodded. "The twins."

"I'll have to tell them," she agreed. "But we still don't know where the portal is."

He paced in frustration. "I'd know the smell anywhere if I got close to it, but it's not like we can roam all of Mystic Falls sniffing everything. That'd take forever."

"What if we _could_..." she said, thoughts racing. "Roam, I mean. And nothing sniffs out things faster than a wolf."

He stopped pacing and looked up at her, his eyes gleaming again.

"I'll change late tonight and we'll go hunting," she declared, glad to have a plan.

"This should be interesting," he said, grinning.

* * *

She didn't much feel like doing _anything_ later that night.

After that conversation with Landon, all she wanted to do was join the cry pile with Lizzie and Josie. She knew it was asking a lot to complain about her relationship with Landon in front of Josie, but she needed someone to talk to.

She was completely open with Landon about her feelings on him trying to be 'the hero'. He wouldn't change his mind though. He acted like he had something to prove. Why couldn't he understand that she had lost so many people in her life, she couldn't bear to lose one more?

She was scared. She knew it. And she was worried he would hate her now. He definitely didn't seem happy after their talk.

She was thankful she remembered to tell Clarke to block her thoughts during that conversation. She didn't need _him_ weighing in on her relationship too.

She knew Lizzie would tell her the cold hard truth and she needed that right now.

She also needed to tell them, as gently as possible, about her plan to get Clarke his body back. She wouldn't let them know she was doing it because she _wanted_ to help him though. She would tell them about the merge information he held. It would take some time, but eventually—hopefully—they would see reason and agree to help her.

"I think Landon hates me," she started.

A split second later, the twins disappeared.

Hope looked back and forth, sitting up, completely bewildered.

_Where did they go?_

* * *

_Looks like the plan is on hold for now_ , he thought, which was too bad because he _really_ wanted to experience being a wolf.

He watched Alyssa Chang fly across the room and be pinned helplessly against the wall.

The girl should've never underestimated Hope. Even _he_ was feeling like he miscalculated.

Hope was _pissed_ , and he didn't even try to block out her thoughts and emotions. The rage was something he knew well, and it was the first time he didn't feel like a stranger in this body.

The Saltzmans were gone and something told him she wouldn't stop at tearing that girl apart to get them back.

Apparently he and Hope Mikaelson had more in common than he realized.


	4. Burning Love And All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

_Ring-a-round the rosie, pocket full of posies,  
_ _Ashes, ashes, we all fall down..._

Three little girls bounced around in a circle holding hands and singing in a giant field surrounded by lush green grass, a meadow. The sun shined bright and beautiful, the sky clear.

The girls giggled as they quickly fell to the ground. Each girl was beautiful in their own right, all three distinguishable by their flowing tresses—one blonde, one brunette, one auburn.

Jumping back to their feet, the girls resumed their song and dance, holding hands tightly.

From a distance, a father watched his girls, grinning at their joy. Spending an afternoon watching them play and be happy was always a treat.

Without warning, a great roar sounded in the distance.

The man followed the sound, looking to the trees across the way and then to the sky where his eyes suddenly widened in fear. Dragon!

"Girls, come here now!" he shouted.

Confused, the girls stopped their song and dance, looking to their father.

"Now!" he ordered again, starting to run toward them even while motioning for them to come his way.

The girls caught his worry and quickly did as he asked. Meeting them in the meadow, he redirected them to the tree line in the direction he came from.

They ran as quickly as they could but as the father looked back, he realized the creature was closer than he anticipated. They wouldn't reach the tree line before it reached them, at least not if they stuck together.

"Separate!" he told them. "Don't run together, but get to the trees! Now!"

With his words, the girls did their best to follow his command. While the father stopped and waved his arms, hoping the dragon would be distracted enough to keep heading for him instead of going after the smaller prey, the girls ran. One went right, the other two went left. They didn't mean to go together, but the blonde and brunette, they were twins, and went the same way without even realizing.

The auburn ran alone to the trees, doing as she was told. When she reached the forest, she looked back. With dawning horror, she realized the creature had decided to go after the two girls, their father running towards them now to try to protect them.

She started running back, knowing it was too late, but she had to do something. She couldn't let the dragon hurt her family. She couldn't let it take her family away. She needed them.

As she ran, she started screaming out their names. During the screams, she became more aware with each forward movement. It suddenly came back to her that she was Hope Mikaelson. And Lizzie, Josie, and Doctor Saltzman were about to be hurt by the dragon.

She almost reached them when a wave of heat hit her. It was so intense she was knocked off her feet. Disoriented, she didn't know how much time passed before she could focus again. She strained to make everything stop being so blurry. Finally the smoke cleared and, with it, she realized she was alone.

They were all simply gone. No remains, nothing. Everyone, even the dragon, had disappeared.

The teenage Hope, no longer the eight year old carefree child, stood and dusted herself off. She set off, determined to find the dragon and find out what happened to her family.

Through a haze, she finally tracked the dragon down. She saw red when the creature in its human form stepped forward to reveal Alyssa Chang.   
  
She pulled a piece of folded paper from her pocket, opened it, and began chanting the Latin words with purpose and conviction. Alyssa tried to escape, tried to speak, tried to beg, tried everything to get away. She was no match for Hope.

As she fell to the ground, Hope marched forward, pulling a knife and threatening the fallen creature.

"Where is my family!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" came the taunting reply with a snarl.

As the dragon's eyes glowed orange, Hope gave in to the rage. She grabbed the girl's hair, tilted her head back and jabbed the knife up under her chin, right in the soft spot.

The rage calming slightly, she slid the knife out and slowly backed away, panting slightly even though she hardly exerted herself.

She dropped the knife, looking at her hand. It started shaking. Her breathing became more ragged.

"This is a death spell."

She turned around, relieved to see Doctor Saltzman standing there. He was alive!

He was also furious with her. He waved the paper with the spell she used.

"A spell you couldn't have known you'd need to use on a dragon which...which means you had other plans for it."

She tried to swallow. Her panic was overwhelming her. He knew what she had done. She shouldn't have, but she _had_ to.

"This hatred. This vengeance. That's your father. It can't be you. I won't allow it."

With his last word, he turned and stalked away, leaving her alone once again.

"No!" she cried. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't leave me! Please!"

As she tried to plead, her vision became blurry once more. She struggled to find focus, straining. She saw flashes of the dragon coming after Lizzie and Josie again. "No!" She felt the heat wave knock her off her feet a second time. "No!"

She regained her focus finally to realize that, once again, she was truly alone.

Waking up was a gradual thing. 

Hope had fallen asleep on the left side of Lizzie's bed on top of the covers, fully clothed with shoes and everything. She didn't want to keep dreaming that dream, but waking up in the dead of the night to the reality that the Saltzmans were still gone wasn't much better.

Turning to lie on her back, she stared at the ceiling.

After incapacitating Alyssa, she marched her down to a prison cell. She found Dorian to clue him in to what was happening. The rest of the students didn't know yet, but it would be the talk of the school tomorrow.

She decided to let Alyssa stew in her cell all night before approaching her with more questions. So far Alyssa wasn't giving up any information, but it was only a matter of time before Hope either wore her down or found the answers on her own.

In the meantime, she tried unsuccessfully to catch up on her sleep. She barely slept for three hours before waking. How could she sleep when her best friends and the man who had been like a father to her were missing?

Now that she was awake, she didn't want to go back to sleep, not if _that_ was what awaited her. So she would just keep lying there, staring at the ceiling. She hated the loneliness overwhelming her. She could feel the tears welling up. She fought them, only allowing a single tear to fall.

She was going to get them back. She _had_ to.

This was why she put off getting close to the twins for so long and didn't like getting close to anyone. Why did the universe keep taking away the people she loved?

She jerked when she felt the hum in her skin.

"Go away," she murmured even though she only had to think it and not say it.

There was a pause, during which she wiped the tear away angrily. Another tear replaced that one.

She felt the hum in her skin once more.

With a sigh, she reached down and struggled to pull the bulky prism from her pocket.

She held it up over her face and activated it, not bothering to get up. She didn't feel like moving.

"What do you want?" she mumbled, letting her arm flop down on the bed next to her, eyes still on the ceiling.

"Relief," came the reply that was closer than usual. "Well, this is different."

Hearing the amusement in his voice, she glanced to her right. Since she was lying down when her subconscious appeared, it figured he ended up lying down too. Though his shoe covered feet were resting next to her head, his head down close to her own high heeled boots.

She kicked her right foot towards his head. He jerked away, sitting up. He drew his left leg up and rested his arm across his knee to get more comfortable.

She gave up any effort to get him to move and resumed her ceiling stare. "Relief from what?"

"All that weeping sadness," he said. "I prefer the rage."

"Yeah, well, the rage will get me nowhere," she grumbled. Though, neither would the sadness.

"It sure seemed to frighten the witch," he pointed out.

"Yeah, for half a minute," she said.

"That's because you only imprisoned her, you didn't hurt her," he said.

"She'll tell me where the ascendant is or I'll find it," she said simply. "I don't need to hurt her."

"Where's the fun in that?" he asked.

She sat up, glaring at him. "You think this is funny? She used a time delay spell. Where do you think she learned that from?"

"Guilty," he raised his hands in mock surrender.

"If we don't get the twins back, I guess we don't need that merge information after all," she snapped.

"Who is Roman?" he asked, unconcerned with her use of that particular threat once again.

She stammered. "Stop reading my mind."

He stared her down.

"He's how I learned I don't have the stomach for torturing people," she explained.

"No stomach? Or perhaps you like it too much?" he asked.

"Either way, it's not going to happen," she wanted to thoroughly throttle him. Too bad he wasn't real. "That's not who I want to be."

"Because you don't want to be like your father," he stated. He had easily discerned that truth from her dreams.

She picked up the prism. She didn't want to listen to this any longer.

He reached out as if to stay her hand even though he couldn't touch her or the prism. "From what I've heard, he was powerful, fearless, and invincible. His enemies trembled at the sound of his name."

"I know exactly who my father was," she said.

"The _point_ ," he enunciated, "is that he did what he had to do. There's nothing wrong with you doing the same."

She squinted at him. "Are you trying to _comfort_ me?"

He scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You are!" she accused him.

"If it'll get you to stop wallowing, then fine, call it what you want," he rolled his eyes.

"Aw, did I make you feel my sad little hurt feelings and you can't take it?" she taunted him.

"We're not that different, you know," he ignored her attempts at getting a rise out of him.

She laughed out loud at that. Laughing so hard, in fact, she relaxed and fell back on Lizzie's pillow, shaking her head.

"I'm nothing like you," she laughed.

"You're scared of being alone and losing the people you love," he said. "And I'm the one who _is_ alone and has no one to love."

She stopped laughing. "Clarke."

He shrugged. "I'm used to it. But if you don't want it to get that far, well, you know what you have to do."

"I won't hurt Alyssa," she reasserted.

"I hope that works for you," he said.

* * *

It wasn't working for her.

Maybe he had gone overboard in insisting she torture Alyssa because instead she was taking it extremely easy on her.

The truth spell hadn't worked, so Hope resorted to making demands and acting the basic witch Alyssa accused her of being. Threatening to pluck out her eyelash extensions? _Seriously?_

Clarke was already frustrated with her, and he became even more frustrated when the little fairy interrupted the "interrogation" to report that Landon was not only trying to fly but insisted on getting a key to the roof to further his horizons.

She didn't have time for this! He wanted to tell her to get back to the task at hand. Landon could go throw himself off a cliff for all he cared. Of course, he knew it would be pointless to convince her to do anything else but run to protect his little brother.

The more he watched, the more annoyed he got.

 _Sure_ , he thought, _NOW you don't mind the torture._

She didn't want to hurt Alyssa, but she had no problem using giant sheers to hack off this creature's wings. And then threatening to cut off parts that won't grow back? _This_ is how Hope should be treating Alyssa to scare the truth out of her.

"One day I'm going to have to choose between saving you and keeping something terrible from happening," she told Landon. "And I don't want to think about what that day looks like."

He could feel her frustration too. _Teenage relationship drama running amuck_ , he thought in disgust. What made Landon so special anyway? He already knew why their father valued him more. But why was Hope so devoted to the kid? He didn't get it. Did Landon even really know her? He couldn't possibly know her the way Clarke did.

As he watched Hope open the door to Alyssa's cell and strut forward, he marveled at the look of horror on the girl's face as she was stabbed with an arrow. Just think how fast she would have given up the ascendant's location if that had been a real arrow.

Hope was definitely feeling proud of herself for finding another way to get to Alyssa without hurting her. She was deliberately trying to show him there was another way.

He wasn't impressed.

* * *

She had gone too far.

She tried to keep her panic contained while she picked up the pieces of the ascendant.

In trying not to hurt Alyssa, she had gotten MG to do it. The boy who wouldn't hurt a fly, who respected women and was completely uncomfortable with manipulating and using one, she had gotten him to do it only to save herself from being that person.

And, in the end, she lost the one thing she needed to get the Saltzmans back.

Maybe Clarke had been right. Maybe she _should_ have tortured Alyssa. At least then she would never have the chance to destroy the ascendant.

What was she going to do now?

* * *

The day had started off pretty well, but it was ending in the worst way.

Hope had fallen asleep that morning without deactivating the prism, so he spent a few hours watching her sleep. He could've explored the room, or seen if anyone was up to any late night mischief by peering out her window. He could've closed his eyes and focused on her dreams, become a part of them once again instead of just seeing the images in his mind's eye. He didn't though.

Instead, he took advantage of the opportunity. He usually only got to see her face when she was using the prism. Even when she was getting ready for the day, she avoided the mirror unless she was doing her hair or adding a touch of makeup. He wasn't surprised. _Clever girl_.

He took his time taking in each of her features, admiring the way each of them worked together to make up this strong, willful, lonely girl. Her eyes were closed in sleep with long lashes that fluttered gently as she dreamed her dreams. Her lips were perfectly formed with a full lower lip. Her nose had this little perk to it. The skin across her cheeks was smooth and unblemished. Her chin had a stubborn tilt that was evident even as she slept. Her hourglass frame defied today's idea of perfection. Hers was a throwback to classic eighteenth century with her small waist on top of shapely hips and balanced with a generous chest on top of that. He quite liked that century. Just like he quite liked what he saw.

He had been drawn to her since the first time he met her. He knew she was lying outside of that rural house in Kansas. There was much more to her and her story. When he met her a second time, he found out her real name. She said it with a hint of the sass he would come to know quite well. Of course, the next time he saw her she was with his brother and everything had snowballed from there.

And now he was watching her as she slept, trying to understand what he was feeling. It was something new, something he had never experienced before. Leave it to Hope Mikaelson to get under his skin when he didn't have any.

He liked her, at least he could figure out that much. He was glad his plan to take over her body hadn't succeeded. He would have preferred not to die though.

The revelation to himself about his feelings for Hope made what happened later all the worse.

One would think that being inside Hope while she writhed in pain on the floor as the burning love arrow tried to burn her from the inside out would have been the worst part of his day. He didn't know how she could bear the pain because he sure as hell could hardly take it.

He wished he could go back to this morning.

He wished she had remembered to tell him to block her out.

She didn't, only because she wasn't thinking of anything else but Landon.

It wasn't even the bathtub make out session that got to him the most. That definitely wasn't a good moment for him. He wasn't prepared and ended up chanting "Malivore" over and over again in his thoughts to block it out. It barely worked. He somehow managed to focus on the feeling of the cold water spraying on her, that's what finally got him through it.

No, the absolute worst moment of this day was finding out exactly why Hope picked Landon.

_"He's patient, trusting, kind, and a thousand other things I'm not."_

And all the things that Clarke wasn't.

* * *

"Didn't want to check on me this time?" he asked softly, sitting in a chair, studying his fingernails instead of looking at her.

Hope looked up from the book sprawled out in front of her. Landon had long since gone to bed, and she was studying the books in the library looking for anything that would help her bring the Saltzmans back. She had been searching for hours before the buzz of her skin warned that Clarke wanted to talk.

"Hmm?" she asked blearily. She was so tired. She should probably get some sleep soon, but she couldn't stop searching.

"Burning love and all," he replied.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, right! You're okay?"

"Do you really care?"

"I," she stuttered. "What's...huh?" Words weren't working. She couldn't even form functioning thought. She needed to go to sleep.

He sighed. "You didn't warn me."

"Warn you..." She realized she made out with Landon and hadn't once thought about Clarke. "Oh..." she blushed.

"Found the ascendant, I see," he nodded toward the pieces on the table.

"What's left of it," she said.

"You're not bringing anyone back with that," he stated the obvious.

"No, I'm _really_ not," she agreed.

"What now?"

"I...don't know," she sighed. She couldn't give up, but the books weren't helpful. The coven wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of putting someone _in_ the prison world if they thought they would decide to let them out one day. She didn't understand why they didn't just kill them if the person was so dangerous.

"Not up to roaming the countryside yet?" he asked.

She glanced at him. She realized he hadn't looked at her once since she activated the prism. "I can't."

"Right," he nodded.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "You seem...different."

"Just want out of here," he said.

"It'll happen eventually," she said. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Get some rest, Hope," he said.

"Can't do that yet either," she shook her head.

"You'll figure it out."

She glanced at him again. It wasn't like him to be supportive. And he still hadn't looked at her.

"You can turn it off now," he motioned to the prism.

"Oh...kay..." She picked it up and glanced at him once more. She felt like something was wrong.

"Don't forget to warn me ever again," he said softly right before she deactivated it.

She glanced up at his final words but he was already gone.

She shifted in her seat.

That last bit sounded like a threat.


	5. Have At Least One Totally Epic Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Was this his dream or Hope's nightmare?

From where he was standing midway down the school stairs, watching Landon dying at the bottom of the stairway was pretty much a dream come true.

But if this were _his_ dream, Hope wouldn't mind seeing that, and she decidedly did mind.

_"Hope."_

Hope turned around, and Clarke looked past her to the direction of the sound.

It was Josie Saltzman, eyes covered over in solid black, expressionless.

_"We're not alone."_

Clarke stiffened, feeling like her eyes pierced straight through him. There was something otherworldly about the twin. Was she part of Hope's dream? Something felt off. Was she trying to contact Hope from the prison world? And, if so, could she actually see him?

Hope woke before Josie said anything else.

Awareness came back to her quickly. 

Sometime in the night she moved to Doctor Saltzman's office, hoping to find information in his files. She fell asleep while trying to reassemble the ascendant. No matter what spell she used, the thing kept falling apart. _Alyssa_ , she grumbled.

The dream was eerie. It felt like a premonition. If it really was just a dream, why was Josie in it and why were her eyes so black? She truly hoped it wasn't a forewarning of things to come. Landon had been dying and she couldn't save him.

She had about enough of chanting little girls too.

 _Clarke,_ she thought loudly. _Here's your warning_.

She gave up on the ascendant for now. She had to see Landon. She just wanted to talk to him, but after Clarke's reaction the night before she wasn't taking any chances.

* * *

If she could smack Clarke right at this very moment, she would.

Doctor Saltzman's friend, Joshua, an expert on prison worlds, was listening to the ascendant and could possibly give her the information she needed.

She could barely focus because as soon as Dorian walked in with the guy, Clarke went nuts. Her skin was buzzing incessantly.

_Would you stop?! I'll talk to you as soon as I can!_

He kept up the steady stream of buzzing though.

Would anyone else be able to see him if she activated the prism under the desk?

He stopped the buzzing at her thoughts.

But no, she couldn't take that chance.

She covered a grimace as her skin started buzzing anew. She blocked him out as best she could and listened to Joshua talking about a hum coming off of the ascendant to indicate a linking spell to another ascendant.

Given the hum in her skin because of the link between her and Clarke, she was inclined to believe him even though she had never heard of a linking spell making a sound. Usually, she would think he was full of it.

"That witch didn't send them to a new prison world. She sent them somewhere older and much more dangerous."

Hope was filled with dread.

***

"He came from Malivore," Clarke said as soon as she gave him a chance to talk.

"How do you know?" She asked, the dread growing.

"Same way I knew last time," he said. "I was trying to warn you. At least he didn't attack."

"Why didn't he though?" Hope didn't get it. Most of the creatures from Malivore usually did just that. Very few took the time to talk it out. And what did _any_ of the creatures know of prison worlds?

"It's because of the ascendant," he explained thoughtfully. "A linking spell doesn't _hum_. Maybe he could sense the magic, but he didn't hear it. No, he _wanted_ you to know it was linked to another ascendant...which means he knew before he got here."

"If the Saltzmans are in the prison world with their crazy uncle..."

"You _need_ to astral project," he concluded.

"Yes," she turned to leave.

"Uh, Hope?"

She looked back. He was leaning against the wall by the tub.

"Prism?"

"Right," she deactivated the prism and left the bathroom quickly. That was the only place she was able to talk to Clarke without Landon following.

After Landon left her room with Dorian, she activated the prism again as she set up the circle for projecting.

"Should I leave you here or take you with me?" she asked, setting out the candles. "I can leave the prism activated?"

"You're going to take me with you no matter what," he said. "I'm part of your subconscious."

"I'm projecting myself through a spiritual plane, Clarke," she said. "My consciousness will travel to the prison world and while that means my subconscious will probably come along, I don't want you to get lost along the way."

"If I'm already separated from you by the prism, it might sever the link completely," he pointed out.

"True," she said, stooping to light the candles. Then she paused. "But while you're part of my subconscious, you have your own consciousness."

He tilted his head, thinking.

"So I cast the spell for two?" she asked. "I guess that's possible? It might be easier since there's only one body involved."

"Won't they be able to see me too then?" he asked. He didn't think she wanted anyone to know yet.

She finished lighting the candles determinedly. "That's just a chance we'll have to take. I can't risk losing you along the way."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm touched."

She shook her head, exasperated. "We still need that merge information."

"Let's go then," he said, just as exasperated as her. He was well aware that his greatest value to her was that information.

She deactivated the prism then stepped into the circle. She knelt and focused, casting the spell, changing a few words to prepare a spiritual journey for two instead of one. She knew it made an already dangerous task more dangerous, but she didn't have any choice. She had to check on the Saltzmans.

It didn't take long before she appeared in a room with more people than she expected.

"Josie?" she asked. She felt a chill when she saw that Josie looked just like she had in her dream.

"Hello," Josie said matter-of-factly. She glanced to Hope's side.

Hope caught her breath when she realized Clarke was, in fact, visible. She waited for Josie or Doctor Saltzman to blow up at seeing him.

Josie looked back at everyone, then turned to Hope once more. "Only I can see you."

Hope breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, Josie wasn't upset at seeing Clarke... maybe it had something to do with her new look.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"I broke the sand clock," Josie replied.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Hope gasped. She glared at Clarke. He gave a small shrug. He looked more fascinated by the situation than anything.

"Honey, who are you talking to?" Alaric asked Josie.

"Hope," she said, very obviously not bringing up Clarke. "She's astral projecting."

Hope didn't know why she wasn't mentioning him, but she would thank her later.

"Listen, you have to warn her about Kai," Alaric said.

"Why, what happened?" Hope asked.

"Kai went into the Malivore pit and we think he's trying to get to the real world," Josie said.

"Actually, I think he's already here pretending to be someone else," Hope said. She glanced at Clarke who nodded in agreement. That would explain why Clarke smelled Malivore on him. He would've been released by Malivore almost immediately because Kai was a vampire, a heretic actually—made up of two of the protected species. Malivore would've spit him out the same as he tried to do Hope.

"Kai's at the school," Josie reported to her dad.

"Hope, listen to me," Alaric said very seriously. "Kai's incredibly dangerous. You have to get him away from the school _now_."

"Good luck, Hope," Josie said, her eyes glancing curiously at Clarke again.

"Wait—"

Too late, Hope lost her connection and came back to her physical plane. Josie, with all that dark power, must have been helping her maintain the spell. Once the other girl dropped the spell, Hope had to too.

Before she had the chance to see if Clarke made it back okay, she realized Kai was in her room.

Keeping her alarm in check, she did as Doctor Saltzman asked and manipulated him to get him as far from the school as possible.

Along the way, she distracted herself long enough to make sure Clarke was still there. The answering hum soothed her in that moment more than she thought possible.

She had to take Kai out. She mentally prepared. Most of her fight training in action had only been used on creatures, none with the powers of a heretic. She was taught to subdue vampires and witches as they were her kin and usually students. The creatures she could destroy but staking a vampire wasn't something she had actually ever done. She usually used her magic, but it couldn't hurt to shake things up a bit. She was smart, clever, and powerful. She could handle this.

She threw a stake at him. He stopped it mid-air before it could plunge into his back.

"And so it begins," he said, dropping the façade and moving to attack her.

Hope reached deep down inside and quickly pulled out a blocking spell.

Blue light shown brightly, stopping his attack and forcing him backwards. He slammed to the floor. She threw a box at him using another quickly worded spell before running to attack with a jumping punch, putting her full force behind it. She spun around in a crouch, kicking a foot out to knock him off his feet.

Standing, she realized this shouldn't be as easy as he was making it seem. She may not have ever fought a heretic, but she knew something was wrong.

She wished more than anything she wasn't right.

* * *

_She picked the Saltzmans._

Clarke couldn't believe it. After everything he had been forced to suffer through in her subconscious, the _one_ thing that had always been consistent was her constant pathetic worry over her perfect boyfriend.

He knew how much it hurt her, her subconscious took a huge pounding, but she still did what she thought was right. He struggled to understand her choice.

He felt her indecision. He felt her hesitation. He listened to her thoughts that were screaming to run and protect Landon. But then logic took over. She knew there was a chance Landon would be okay, but if Alyssa unlinked the ascendant from Kai there was absolutely no way the Saltzmans would survive.

She used her head and not her heart, even telling herself it would be the selfish thing to put Landon above all the rest.

Oddly enough, that was when she made the decision. She couldn't put the needs of herself over the needs of others. Was this what being selfless felt like? Because she sure as hell wasn't enjoying it. Why would anyone do this to themselves on purpose?

The biggest question he had, and the one she seemed to deliberately avoid thinking about, was if she didn't pick Landon, did that mean she didn't really love him enough?

"I know you want to hurt them, but you're not a murderer. Trust me. You don't want to be responsible for someone's death. It stays with you. You carry it forever."

Clarke got distracted when he was flooded with blue memories, the ones Hope said she kept stored away. She must have tapped into those to find the words to reach Alyssa. He saw Hope, her skin practically crawling with power, finally releasing her pent-up rage on a group of cretins who sorely deserved it. But someone else paid the price. The rush of magic injured an innocent human bystander, thus triggering Hope's werewolf curse with his death. He could feel her internal remorse before she gave way to horror as the ascendant started spinning even though Alyssa had stopped performing the spell.

Hope went from horror to relief when a bright light shone over the room and people started coming through. When Lizzie arrived, the blonde immediately winced, clearly in pain. Hope grabbed her in a hug but pulled away a little when her friend moaned at having her wound bumped.

"What happened to you?"

Lizzie gripped Hope tightly. "Car accident. And Sebastian is a _jerk_. And, _dad_..." she trailed off, her eyes wide with fright.

"What about him?" Hope asked, trying to rein in her panic.

"He's staying be—" she cut off as another flash of light shone and there stood her father.

"Daddy?" Lizzie pulled away from Hope, finding her footing. "But..."

Hope ran to Doctor Saltzman, hugging him tightly. He returned the hug, as relieved to see her as she was to see him.

He pulled back and looked at Lizzie.

"Sebastian."

"Sebastian?" she asked in a small voice.

"He showed up," he explained, a slight catch in his voice. "He wouldn't let me stay. He's going to be the anchor."

Lizzie's mouth dropped open. She looked at Hope, who was very confused, but also very happy that two thirds of the Saltzmans were back.

Alaric let go of Hope and grabbed Lizzie for a hug, so glad to be back in the real world with her.

"Where's Josie?" Hope asked.

And then there she was, kneeling on the floor facing away from them all.

"Hey, you made it," Hope said softly.

Josie stood up, still turned away.

"Josie," Hope said with alarm, scared of what they would see when she turned around.

They all waited with baited breath.

When she turned, gone were the scary black veins, pitch black hair, and vacant eyes. It was Josie, _their_ Josie, and she was back to normal.

"It's me, guys," she said. "I'm back."

 _Liar_ , Clarke thought.

* * *

She wondered through the woods. It was dark. The only light provided by the moon. She came to a small clearing, surrounded by small thin trees. She walked around in a circle wondering why it was so familiar.

Hearing a scuffle behind her, she turned to see her mother at an opening in the trees.

Racing to her outstretched arms, she hugged her tightly. It felt just like coming home. Nothing else in the world felt or even smelled like the amazing woman gripping her closely. She never wanted to leave her embrace again.

"I don't want to leave you here alone," Hope whimpered into her shoulder. "No one should ever be alone."

"I'm not alone," Hayley pulled back, grasping Hope's arms. "Listen."

Hope strained to hear, and then she did. There were voices, lots of them, laughing and talking. Strains of music danced through the trees, beckoning to them.

"Come with me," her mother guided her along.

Through the trees, they came to an even wider clearing. This one was filled with family and friends enjoying a beautiful peaceful night by the bonfire with Jackson playing the guitar.

"I'm not dead because of you," Hayley insisted. "I'm at peace because of you."

"If I go back, am I ever gonna see you again?" She missed her mother so much. She didn't know if she could bear to leave her.

"Not for a _very_ very long time," Hayley insisted. She smiled gently. "So you better have good stories, okay? Make art, use your voice. Have adventures...

Her smile became broader, teasing. "And have at least one _totally_ epic love."

Hope laughed softly through her tears.

"And be every bit of yourself, because the very best of me is in you," she continued.

"I love you, Mom."

Hayley pulled her back into her embrace. "I love you too. Always and forever."

Soon, Hope was grasping at air. Her mother and the memory were gone. Everything around her changed.

Suddenly she was in Principal Saltzman's office, sitting across from him at his desk, explaining why she didn't want to return to the Salvatore school.

"Landon and I, we were in love. Like, real love. Epic love, if that even exists," she laughed to herself.

"I can assure you, it does."

Everything shifted again, and she was down by the dock, talking to Clarke in prism form.

"They didn't know what they were doing," she excused Landon and Josie's actions.

"But they should have, right? At least Landon should have," he spoke her thoughts out loud. "If it really was an _epic_ love, he never would have looked elsewhere. He told you he'd seen glimpses of you every time he died. But he didn't try to find you."

Tears blurred her eyes.

She blinked, and suddenly she was in a forest once more, this one different from the previous. This was the very one she ran through earlier that evening.

She paused. She looked toward the dense forest ahead knowing that a golden arrow could very well be on its way to kill the boy she loved so much, the one she proclaimed to be her totally epic love. Then she looked toward the school, knowing that the collapse of the prison world would mean the certain death of the Saltzmans.

She made a decision, the same one she would have made given the same choice over and over again.

As she ran to the school, she wondered what her mother would think of her epic love story.

It wasn't looking too epic right now.

She woke feeling disoriented, with a strange pillow that moved up and down. She remembered she had been cuddling with Landon. She must have fallen asleep.

The darkness out the window clued her in that it was still night time. A soft snore and then light breathing from across the room told her that Rafeal had returned at some point and was sleeping in his bed.

She heard he was back and there were some crazy circumstances, she would ask him about it—if he would even talk to her.

For now, she wanted to go. Her dream had disturbed her, and the last thing she needed to do was lay around and think about what it meant while her thoughts weren't private.

She had warned Clarke to block her thoughts hours ago when she was talking with Landon before she fell asleep. She was sure he had long since stopped putting in the effort, especially when he was pulled into her dreamscape. She hoped he didn't ask her about _that_ dream. Even _she_ didn't know how to interpret it. She did miss her mother though.

She gently slid out of the bed, careful not to jar Landon's arm.

Glancing at the night stand, she quickly picked up the token Landon had given her earlier before they had laid down for their serious talk.

"Doctor Saltzman and I agree, we think it would be best if _you_ take care of this," Landon had said, holding the golden arrow out to her. Thankfully, it was cleaned and disinfected after its removal from Dorian's back.

She took it immediately, holding it like it was some kind of security blanket. If this was the one thing that could kill Landon, she would guard the thing with her life. Also, a fair amount of cloaking and invisibility spells were in the works too.

Now, she returned to her room silently, grateful her criminal roommate was still in a holding cell awaiting judgment from their headmaster.

She cloaked and hid the arrow, then pulled out the prism. She activated it as she started rummaging through her closet for loose clothing that would be easy to take off in the woods.

"Why the clothes?" Clarke asked, going with the obvious question. He wanted to ask her about that dream, but he heard her thoughts. She didn't want to talk about it, and he figured he wouldn't push her. Not yet anyway. He always did though...eventually.

He was mostly just glad she wasn't in Landon's bed any longer.

"Not reading my mind?"

"If I did, then I'd miss the thrill of hearing your voice," he smirked.

"We made plans to go hunting," she replied with a roll of the eyes.

His smirk dissolved into a full-fledged grin. "We did."

"Don't smile yet," she said. "Changing means breaking every single bone in my body. And you _will_ feel it. So, there's that."

He grin faltered a bit.

"We'll test if I can still feel the buzzing as soon as I turn. If not, it kind of defeats the purpose of you being able to let me know when you smell it."

He nodded.

"I may have caught the scent from Kai, but it was very faint so I'm not sure if I'll recognize it on my own," she clarified. "You ready?"

"Can't wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _And that was S2E13. What happens next, that's all me, with a splash of S2E14-16 sprinkled in._


	6. Turnabout's Only Fair Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

She wasn't kidding about the pain.

No wonder Hope could withstand that burning love arrow. Feeling every single bone break in ones body was worse than that. _This is what werewolves went through every month_? He actually felt pity for them, which was a first.

Finally she finished with the change and broke into a run.

She _loved_ being a wolf. Her mind wasn't nearly as complicated. She could clear out everything weighing her down and focus on the freedom. She knew she had a task to perform in her current form, but she hadn't changed in so long, she _had_ to run and explore. She growled and howled too, but most of all, she had to run.

This was the most peaceful she had ever been since he entered her psyche. He was surprised she didn't change more often.

She slowed to a walk, suddenly remembering.

_Clarke?_

_I know something you don't_ , he teased knowing she couldn't hear him. He waited for the coat of fur to buzz or ripple, or whatever his trying to talk to her felt like in this form.

_What do you know?_

Clarke paused. Wait...did she just—?

_You can hear me?_

_Apparently_ , she thought.

 _Wolf form has its perks_. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.

 _Oh, definitely a good thing. Where should I look first?_ she asked.

 _Everywhere you haven't been or most students wouldn't go._ He was disconcerted. In wolf form she could read _his_ mind.

 _Turnabout's only fair play_ , she thought gleefully.

She took off at a run again.

 _What do you know that I don't?_ she asked.

 _For one, the magic you used on Kai was blue._ He noticed that at the beginning of their fight. It reminded him of that blue door of hers.

 _The Hollow is gone_ , she thought derisively. _Her power is destroyed. My father saw to that. What you saw, it was just a spell._

_Right...Interesting that Kai didn't have to cast a spell to do magic._

_Spells give me control over the magic,_ she explained. _As a child, I did magic all the time without spells. I did magic before I could walk, or even talk. But it's too difficult to control, especially when casting bigger spells._

_Have you tried to do it without the spells recently?_

_Not much. I try not to. Why?_

_It seems to me your magic is only as strong as the spells you use. Maybe with age comes more control. You should try it sometime._

_I'll...think about it_ , she thought.

She ran through a path in the trees, exploring, looking for any place a portal could be hidden.

_You said 'for one,' what's the other thing you know that I don't?_

Before he could answer, they both caught the scent. She growled.

 _Malivore_.

Hope put her snout to ground. She traced the path back and forth before determining that the path extended both ways. She just needed to pick a way to go. She could backtrack the other way if she reached a dead end.

_I'm going toward the school._

_The portal won't be close to the school,_ he thought.

_This could be the scent of another creature, a new one, on the way to attack us right now._

Oh, right. Always trying to be the hero.

 _I heard that_.

He went silent, not wanting to distract her if there was some new threat.

She was on high alert as she sprang into action, following the path at a distance, making sure not to veer too far from the scent.

She came to a clearing and halted.

 _Well, that's...disturbing,_ she thought.

_Ah, yes, I suppose this would've been my final resting place IF someone had actually bothered to bury me?_

_Get over it._

It was the makeshift cemetery the school used to bury the creatures when they inevitably failed and were destroyed by the students.

She approached, following the scent until she reached the fresh grave she was positive belonged to the winged god, Pothos.

Sighing inwardly, she began to dig.

_What are you doing?_

_I need to see if he's still here_ , she continued on, swinging her paws down repeatedly to kick up the dirt as quickly as possible.

_Can't you just magic the dirt out of the way?_

_I can't do magic in wolf form._

_That's inconvenient,_ he grumbled.

 _I don't make the rules_.

 _Just change back and use magic,_ he suggested.

_If I do, I'm only going to have to change back again to follow the path the other way._

_Never mind,_ he didn't want to go through that again just yet.

She laughed inwardly.

When Hope finally dug deep enough, it became apparent the body was no longer there.

_I don't like this..._

_Follow the path the other way_ , he thought.

She jumped out of the hole and began to follow the path at a distance once again.

The path led them to another graveyard, Mystic Falls Cemetery.

Sticking to the shadows, Hope prowled silently. There was a strange feeling in the air. She felt it as soon as she treaded through the gates.

 _This entire place stinks of my father_ , he thought.

 _Shhh_ , she shushed him. Her fur was standing on end. She couldn't afford any distractions. She slinked between tombstones, pausing to crouch, attempting to stay away from the places the moonlight shone through the trees.

She made her way to each mausoleum, wondering if perhaps the portal was entombed in one of those. If someone had created a new portal, they probably wouldn't do it out in the open where any groundskeeper could find it.

 _This is endless_ , she thought. _There're too many places it could be, and if it's not on this side of the cemetery, I'll have to cross over the main road directly under the moonlight._

_You need to look from higher ground._

She didn't disagree, so she found one of the taller mausoleums to climb.

It was there she noticed a stained glass window in the distance. She only noticed it because there was a slight glow, as if candles were lit inside.

She pounced from the roof and made her way to the stained glass mausoleum. As she approached, she saw the front entrance had a gate across it. Deciding it was too dangerous, she went around the outside, found a good place to climb, and scaled the wall. Her claws helping her grip. She was happy to find that not only was the roof flat in some areas, there were a few openings probably to allow sunlight in for any visitors so the place wasn't quite as dark and dreary.

She peered inside the opening closest to the stained glass. Not only was she correct that candles were burning inside providing light in the darkness, but she had also found the very thing she was looking for.

_Clarke, you've never looked so...moist?_

His body had indeed been turned into a portal to Malivore. There was a small pool of black tar large enough for most of the creatures to pass through.

A flickering of the candles indicated someone passed by down below.

Hope quickly threw herself away from the opening.

_We need to see who it is, Hope._

_Give me a sec_.

She eased forward cautiously and was finally able to see the identity of the new master of the creatures.

With growing anger, mild exasperation, and a hint of fear, she recognized the necromancer guy from last year.

 _Not him again_ , she growled.

 _Not a fan_?

_He raised the twins' bio mom, had her bury Josie alive. Dropped me into an endless pit of despair in his subconscious, oh, and he was responsible for unlocking the first seal of Malivore with the knife._

_So, how do we kill him?_

_The knife was the only thing I knew of_ , she thought.

_The knife that's destroyed now._

_That'd be the one._

Hope _really_ didn't like this guy. He manipulated and tormented her. Why would he even _be_ here? What could he possibly want with the portal to Malivore? He thrived on death. Surely there were way more deaths happening in war torn countries than a small town in Virginia.

She needed to learn more, so she padded softly across the roof, looking for another opening, hoping to find some clue. She came to a small space where the moonlight shone through to the room below. Her wolf vision made it easier to see in the dark.

As she looked around, that eerie feeling returned to her. This was a tomb, but one where the deceased were laid out in black, black petals strew across the bodies. A large basin of what appeared to be blood sat nearby.

One of the piles was a simple mound of dust... _the Sphinx_. She could see Pothos clearly as well.

She tried to understand...she knew from her history of witchcraft class, and stories from her Uncle Kol, that the witches of New Orleans would draw their power from the ancestors laid to rest in their community. Their remains were consecrated in a process involving white flower petals, white garments, and blessed water. The ancestors were long gone from the ancestral plane now, of course. But...

 _He's going to consecrate them_ , Clarke concluded.

 _This isn't any form of consecration I've read about_ , she thought. _It's only ever been done with witches, not monsters._

_Maybe he's trying something new?_

_I can't let him collect any more creatures._ She looked back toward the opening above the portal. _I need a spell to block anything else from rising out of the pit. Crap._

 _You don't need a spell. Just use your magic_ , he reminded her of their earlier conversation.

_I told you, it's hard to control!_

_Do you have a choice?_

So many things could go wrong if she tried it. She never used her magic based solely on her own willpower for something of this magnitude. That's why this option had never once crossed her mind during the long hours of portal duty. But if she did nothing, more creatures could cross over and the thought of those monsters being _consecrated_ was a much bigger threat than not _trying_ to block the portal.

_Fine._

Finding a flat area on the roof, she smirked right before she willed herself to change back.

Clarke cringed as, once again, every one of her bones broke. He knew she found amusement in him forgetting she would have to change to cast the spell. Even worse, once she did the spell, she would have to change back. She wasn't about to go sprinting naked around the cemetery in the middle of the night.

 _Not that there was anything wrong with that_ , he thought. He waited for her smart ass reply, but remembered she couldn't read his thoughts now. He was slightly disappointed.

Eternally grateful for the darkness, she crawled over and stared down at the portal.

Closing her eyes, she summoned the magic running through her veins, concentrating on sending it to her fingertips. Feeling the magic gather, she focused on her intention, running it round and round in her mind, searching for any inconsistencies or loopholes, and shoring up any flaws. When she felt as though it was finally ready, she opened her eyes and commanded her magic to let her will be done over the surface of the portal.

Her right hand tingled as the magic was released. She thought she saw a glimmer in the air above the portal, and then nothing.

She pulled away from the opening, hiding again and breathing deeply. She hoped it worked. If not, well they would find out soon enough.

* * *

"So, what is he?"

After returning from their hunt—and a quick shower—Hope had collapsed in bed. She was too exhausted to do anything else but sleep. Expending all that magical energy wiped her out.

When she woke the next morning, she was brimming with questions. She doubted Clarke knew anymore than she did, but she activated the prism anyway.

Still too exhausted to do much more than sit up in bed and pile her pillows behind her back, she wasn't surprised when her subconscious, once again, appeared next to her on the bed. This time she didn't even try to kick him in the head.

"Is he a witch?" she asked. "But no, he can't be. He would've been spit out by Malivore years ago."

"A sorcerer?" he guessed. He turned toward her, resting his right elbow into the mattress and propping his head up on his palm.

"Witchcraft _is_ sorcery though," she said. "There are different forms of sorcery, but all of them are considered witchcraft..." she trailed off.

"Except expression," he said. "I thought expression wasn't recognized by witches as a form of witchcraft because it's so far outside the realm of what witches can do."

She nodded. "Expression _is_ very powerful...It's malicious and extremely dangerous." She sat up straighter. "And it involves sacrificial magic."

"Suddenly his version of consecration makes more sense," he said.

"And if he's no longer recognized as a witch, that explains why Malivore was able to contain him," she realized.

She sighed. "So, in order to get your body back, we have to defeat a sorcerer with the power to raise the dead and is intent on using monsters to consecrate Mystic Fall's cemetery to draw on their power as well. No problem."

"Don't forget, you also have to convince the twins to help you with the spell to actually _recreate_ my body," he pointed out.

She covered her face with her blanket. "Don't remind me."

He fell onto his back again and crossed his arms behind his head.

She pulled the blanket back down. "So what was the second thing you know that I don't?"

He grinned. "Josie Saltzman is a little liar."

She sat up. "What do you mean?"

"The black magic just mysteriously disappeared when she transported herself out of the prison world back into this one? I think not."

"But she looked okay..." she bit her lip, worried.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"We wanted her to be okay," she admitted.

"It'll work to our advantage anyway," he shrugged. "More power means the spell to get my body back has a better chance of working."

She frowned and was about to reply when they were unceremoniously interrupted.

"Back away from her, demon spawn!"

Lizzie Saltzman, in all her pajama clad and bandage wrapped glory, came rushing at him with her hand outstretched, ready to unleash all manner of hell.

He sprang up and backed away which Hope found absolutely hilarious considering the blonde couldn't do anything to actually hurt him.

"Lizzie, calm down! It's okay!" Hope pushed back her sheets and came to her knees, motioning at her friend. 

Well, now she knew that others _could_ see Clarke when she used the prism. Thank goodness she hadn't activated it yesterday in Doctor Saltzman's office.

"What could possibly be okay about him being back from the dead?!" She was clearly still weak from her injury but was attempting to act fierce in the face of what she thought was certain evil.

Hope gestured emphatically, forgetting that she was holding the prism. "He's not back from, I mean, he wasn't de—"

Lizzie saw the light reflecting in her hand. "Wait, is he a prismatic hologram?"

Hope glanced at her hand. "Well, yeah, I mean...sort of?"

"Oh. Ok," Lizzie settled down, but then she looked back and forth between the two of them. "Hope... _Why_ are you talking to _Agent Clarke_ through your subconscious? I'm not judging but...that's... yes, yes, I am judging. What is wrong with you?"

Hope hopped off the bed and grabbed Lizzie's arms. "Sit."

Lizzie sat and looked up at her expectantly.

Clarke lounged back against her photo board and crossed his arms, a smile playing on his lips. He couldn't wait to see how she explained this.

"Yes, he's a prismatic hologram," Hope began. "But he's not _not_ real."

The blonde's expression told her she really wasn't explaining this well.

Hope let out a deep breath, dropped her arms, and looked heavenward. "It's Clarke, it's really him. Using my blood in SimuLandon coupled with the black magic Josie used created a magical link to me so he's been stuck in my subconscious ever since he was killed before he could jump into the portal in town square. Which _was_ closed, but there's another portal now because the Necromancer used his original body to create a new one, and we found it and now we need your help so he can get his body back."

She paused for breath.

Lizzie took it all in, following her explanation surprisingly well.

"So, this is the real Agent Clarke but in the form of your subconscious?" she asked slowly.

"Yes," Hope said, pleased she understood.

"And you were sitting here alone in your room talking to him on your bed?" Lizzie asked, voice rising slightly.

Hope paused. "Yes, but—"

Lizzie turned on him. "What did you do to her?!"

Clarke quickly raised his arms in mock surrender, smirk in place. "I'm innocent, I swear."

"Lizzie!" Hope exclaimed, exasperated. "I just want to get him out of my subconscious! Will you help?"

"Absolutely not," Lizzie refused. "Help _him_ get a body? Why would you think I'd help _him_? Just unlink him and he'll be gone."

"He has information about the merge," Hope remembered that important bit quite belatedly. "He'll give it to us if we help him."

Lizzie scoffed. "And you believe that?"

" _Yes_ , I do," she replied. "Because if he were lying, well, we'll just kill him again."

"Okay, so even _IF_ he has the merge details, you think I want to unleash _that_ ," she pointed at him, "on the world again?"

"He made a deal, he won't hurt anyone," Hope insisted.

Lizzie stared at her in disbelief. "It's not like you to go all crazy for some guy you don't even like."

"It's a win-win," Hope said. "Merge info, shut down the new portal, _and_ take out that creepy necromancer guy. Nothing crazy about it."

"He tried to kill you, Hope," Lizzie tried one last time to change her mind.

"Sebastian tried to kill you too, but you still tried to save him," Hope argued. Technically, Sebastian wanted to kill her so she could live forever, but that was beside the point.

"Who?" Lizzie asked, suddenly confused.

"Seb—" Hope stopped. She glanced at Clarke who gave her a look. 

She should know what happened.

She smiled.

* * *

"Goodbye, Elizabeth," Sebastian said before taking a deep swig from the bourbon bottle he found in this lovely dwelling.

His old mates on his grand sailing vessel would be sorely envious to know he had tasted such fine spirits.

"I think I'd've liked it here," he said to himself.

The room rumbled more incessantly, belying the perfection of his scenery.

Finishing off the bottle—no need to waste fine liquor—he stumbled to his feet.

He had given no hope to the beautiful maiden that he would take the journey ahead. She deserved better than he had to offer. He did something unforgiveable when he took her choice away. He hadn't been offered a choice in the matter himself. Given the chance, though, he would have accepted. Without immortality, he would have never met his loves, Cassandra or Elizabeth.

If he understood correctly, once he entered the abyss leading to hell, he would be completely forgotten from the collective minds of everyone he had ever met.

That would be a grand mercy for his dear Elizabeth.

And perhaps he deserved to perish in hell for some time for what he had done.

He left the spacious home and approached the familiar carriage he noticed on one of his turns about the property. He believed Elizabeth had called it a 'car'. He recalled seeing her enter the metal contraption and pull down an overhead flap. He repeated her movements now. The key to maneuver this infernal wagon tumbled into his lap.

The world around him wasn't fairing well. More than likely, he was putting too much effort into his own survival. Alas, if it were meant to be, it would be so.

Continuing to facilitate his memory of Elizabeth's movements, he succeeded in activating the _car_. Moving the center stoke down, he put foot and hand movement together. As the great rig began to move forward, he laughed quite joyfully. He had done it!

He focused on the task of steering this insipid craft for all of five minutes before remembering he needed direction to complete his journey. Remembering there was a hidden compartment across the seat, he leaned over to open and rummage for a map or star chart to guide his way.

Finding one, he scanned it, using his vampire speed to find his destination and memorize the route he was to take. He looked up at the stars, grateful for the night's sky, and used them to guide him to his fate.

The voyage took some hours. Thankfully he learned to use one of the car's pedals for acceleration, enjoying the speed he reached the further down he pressed.

With the world quite literally crumbling around him, he scaled the stairs to the building. As fortune would have it, someone had already broken down each door. He used his vamp speed to make his way to his sticky muddy doom.

He jumped in a split second before the world around him disappeared completely.

Hitting a hard cold surface, he stood in the pitch black. There was absolutely nothing around him. He tried to run at warp speed in either direction; both treks brought him nothing but darkness.

Suddenly, a bright light shown above him. Wind whipped about and he was pulled up into a vortex. He slammed into another hard surface. The wind seemed frustrated as it tried over and over again to push him into that surface. He felt like he would be flattened if the force didn't stop.

Without warning, it did. He plummeted through the darkness, falling into an endless void. At last, he met another surface, this one gave and he was pushed through.

He grunted as his face was covered in a black mess. He struggled to find purchase, feeling victorious when his hands came into contact with something solid. He pulled himself toward it and was suddenly released. He used one of his hands to wipe at his eyes.

He stared in wonder at the world around him. _Had it really worked that quickly?_

Slipping and sliding, he struggled out of the hole in the ground, careful of the bushes and low hanging tree branches.

He grabbed some of the leaves to help in wiping his face clear.

He laughed out loud. He was alive! He didn't know why he was so relieved when hours ago he couldn't have cared less.

But since destiny had granted him a third chance, he was going to take it and try to do even better than the previous two.

He bid farewell to the beautiful Elizabeth, content in the knowledge that she wouldn't suffer from his loss. He struck out on a brand new journey, which would probably involve compelling himself shelter and a nice hot bath for the evening.

As he walked away, he paid no mind to the black pit in the ground he left behind, hidden deep within bushes and trees, where no one could find it until it was too late.


	7. Way To Be Creepy, Freddy Krueger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"So, mud boy, give us a teaser," Lizzie leaned back and stared hard at Clarke. "Tell us one thing about the curse of the Gemini coven that we don't already know."

Clarke considered her for a moment. It was a reasonable request. He wouldn't give too much away, but he could prove he _did_ actually know something. He needed to get on the blonde's good side if they had any hope of getting her to help.

He settled into a seat by the window to put himself on her level, make him seem less imposing. A tactic from his days with Triad.

"It's not a curse in the strictest sense," he explained. "Someone didn't curse the coven. The coven did it to themselves."

Hope's eyes widened and Lizzie leaned forward.

"You're telling me my ancestors thought, let's just slap the twins of every generation together, cause them untold torment, pit them against each other, oh, and the victor gets to rule the coven? And they did this on _purpose_?"

"Yes," Clarke nodded.

Lizzie sprang up and paced.

Hope sat down to give her space.

"Why!?" Lizzie demanded to know.

Clarke shook his head. "That's all you get."

"Argh!" she groaned in frustration. "Hope, make him talk! Read his mind or something!"

"It doesn't work that way," Hope explained. "He can read my thoughts, I can't read his." Except in wolf form, but she didn't need to know that.

"Next time Josie wants to use black magic to link you to someone, she should be more clear," the blonde grumbled, glaring at him.

Smiling that smug grin of his, Clarke knew he had her. She was going to help.

Suddenly Lizzie grasped her stomach and groaned in pain.

Hope sprang up. "What's wrong? Is it the wound? Do you need to sit down?"

"No, it's—" she gasped.

Hope pulled back, holding her nose. "Oh my God, Lizzie, what is that _smell_?"

"It's why I came to see you," she backed away, her face turning red. "Can you make him leave?! Oh my God, this is so embarrassing." She backed away further and ran for the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Hope held up the prism. She looked at Clarke and shrugged apologetically. "You might want to block this one out."

Wrinkling his own nose distastefully, he nodded though it was more about blocking out _thoughts_. He feared there was no blocking _that_ out.

Deactivating the prism, Hope searched for air freshener and then scented candles when she found none, groaning when the only candle she could find was Alyssa's bacon scented one. She lit it anyway.

She braced herself and went to the bathroom door. "Are you okay?"

"No!" Lizzie replied sharply. "As if the pain in my side wasn't enough, I have to deal with twin sympathy too!"

"Oh...Oh!" Hope finally understood. "You mean Josie..."

"She's _still_ doing black magic! And I'm the one dealing with the after effects," she hollered through the door. " _Please_ tell me you have more toilet paper. I didn't think anyone ran out since the great TP shortage of 2020."

"It's in the cabinet behind you," Hope answered, feeling bad as she heard Lizzie moan again.

"Worst morning _EVER_."

* * *

Landon woke feeling like something was missing. He looked around and remembered he fell asleep with Hope in his arms. She must've left without waking him.

He didn't know how to take that. Usually when she slept over, she woke him up if she woke before him. Granted, this was the first time in a while that she had fallen asleep next to him as usually he crashed in Raf's bed, but still...why hadn't she woken him?

Yesterday was a pretty big day for him. Not only had he saved Dorian, he flew—like actually _flew_ —for the first time, with great big wings of fire. He saw the look on Hope's face when he landed too. It was that hero look he was striving for.

He knew she was probably still beating herself up over choosing to save the Saltzmans instead of him, but he _had_ saved himself. And she _did_ make the right choice. Though, if he was as useless as she once accused him of being while under a magical creature's spell, things would've ended quite differently. He would still have rather she save them over him anyway. He didn't think she would ever understand that—or forgive herself for her choice—but he was cool with it.

The bathroom door opened and he looked up thinking maybe it was Hope, but no. His roommate, best friend, and brother was _finally_ back. He left the bathroom shirtless with a towel over his right shoulder.

"Hey! Did I mention last night I'm glad you're back?" Landon asked with a smile.

"Hey bro," Rafael nodded at him. "I hope it was okay, me coming here last night, what with you and Hope...?" He indicated the bed with a knowing look. "I almost left again when I saw she was here, but you were both sleeping and I didn't know where else to crash."

"Oh, no problem," Landon said, shaking his head. "We just fell asleep. Nothing like that has happened since you left or anything."

"Oh, okay," Rafael said.

"Besides, it's your room too," he swept a hand out.

"Yeah, but," he grinned. "Just remember to put a sock on the door if you need to since I'm back."

Landon nodded stiffly, shifting uncomfortably. He didn't like to talk about that stuff with Rafael when it came to Hope, not because of Rafael's feelings for her but because he and Hope hadn't even talked about it. He was content to wait until she brought it up.

Their relationship had been through too much lately to be anywhere near ready for that. He knew he loved her and she loved him. But things were far from perfect. Never mind that his memory had been wiped clean of her and she hadn't told him when she got back, there was also that little thing last year where she didn't tell him the truth about his mother. She lied by omission to him twice now, for his own protection, his own happiness, she said. It still bothered him because he wasn't sure if he trusted her to never do that again.

How could he have sex with her if he wasn't one hundred percent sure he trusted her?

Did he want to have sex with her? Yes. But, for now, he was happy where they were, which was still figuring things out. There was no need to rush into anything. He had never been in a serious relationship before so he was taking it one day at a time hoping _he_ didn't do anything to screw it up.

Rafael gave him a teasing smile then walked across the room to his dresser.

Lost in his thoughts, Landon almost missed it but muscle memory made him glance at Rafael's side. After going through so many foster homes, he always checked on his foster siblings, _especially_ Rafael, to make sure no new bruises showed up.

"What's that?" he sat up, bringing his legs down off the side of the bed, pointing at Rafael's stomach.

"What's what?" he asked, looking down.

"It looks like you were cut," Landon stood up.

Rafael looked at the long cut, brows furrowed. He turned to get a better look at it in his full length mirror.

"Who did that to you?"

Rafael traced his fingers along the mark, puzzled.

"I...don't know."

* * *

"So," Lizzie cleared her throat, putting on airs that dared anyone, including  _him,_ to bring up the earlier situation at their own peril.

Hope bit her lip, praying the blonde didn't look at her. She felt really bad for Lizzie, but the situation was making it difficult to look at Clarke. She knew she might not keep a straight face depending on _his_ face, so she had activated the prism but kept her eyes trained on her comforter.

"If you guys want Josie to help us with the spell to bring Clarke back, assuming you could actually convince her _to_ help after what you did," anger flashed in Lizzie's eyes as she glared at Clarke. She did _not_ like this person, but she needed the information he held. "Then we need to find a way to get the black magic completely out of her."

"Not necessarily..." Clarke said, ignoring Hope's mirth. He could really care less about the blonde's digestive issues. He just wanted to get on with it. "In fact, you'll need it for the spell."

" _No_!" Lizzie turned on him. "We're _not_ doing black magic. You may have manipulated my sister, but you aren't manipulating me, mister."

"But—" Hope started.

"I said, _NO_ , Hope," the twin shifted around to look at her. "We aren't doing black magic! I'm scared of what Josie's become. _None_ of us are doing black magic. It's earth magic or it's not happening at all!"

"Then you'll fail," Clarke concluded.

"Then we'll just find out about the merge another way."

"No, you won't," he said with absolute certainty.

"Then we won't!" Lizzie threw her hands up in exasperation.

"There's always another way," Hope interjected. "We'll figure something out to get you a body," she said to Clarke. "We don't have to do it right away. I blocked any creatures from coming through...at least I _hope_ it worked, so we don't have to worry about the portal for now. We'll figure out a way to help Josie first. _Then_ we'll get Clarke his body back...somehow." Even she knew she sounded uncertain.

Clarke sunk back in his chair in defeat. They were all delusional. Without black magic, it wasn't happening. His father had created him using it; there was no way he was coming back without it. Heck, black magic was the reason he still existed _now_.

Lizzie nodded. "So how do we get the black magic out of Josie?"

"Siphon it?" Clarke offered.

The blonde looked at him as if to say, _'Really?_ ' "That's great, take it out of Josie and put it in me. Just stop. You're not helping."

"What if we try our original plan again?" Hope asked. "I mean, get another sand clock, have Josie put the magic in it, then drop it in a new prison world?"

"That _could_ work, I suppose," Lizzie thought it through. "Assuming we could actually get Josie to put the magic in it."

Clarke laughed loudly.

"You two really think you're going to find another mora miserium?" he asked.

"You did, how hard could it be?" Lizzie asked.

"Triad had that stored for at least a century," he said.

"Oh," she deflated.

"I could ask Vincent for help in finding one?" Hope said. "He isn't going to like it, but he might have some idea of where to look?"

"By all means," he replied, knowing it was pointless. It was created to store the effects of black magic by people who didn't like what black magic did to them. Once they realized the magic came rushing back when it inevitably broke, they stopped making them. There was also a bit about other dark witches using a full hourglass to boost their own powers. Anyone who _did_ like the effects of black magic—mostly because that's the only magic they used—wasn't interested in recreating that particular dark object. They wanted to hold onto their own power, thank you very much.

"And in the meantime, I could talk to Josie?" Hope asked Lizzie.

"I can deal with my sister," the twin said. "I have some choice words for her." She wasn't pleased about that morning's shenanigans. In the prison world, Josie had cleared out the sympathy effects to save her life. If she was, once again, feeling the effects then Josie had to have used black magic since they got back.

"There's actually something else I need to ask her about," Hope said. She needed to see if Josie could return the memories of Sebastian. She knew Lizzie was done with him, but she also knew it would make her friend happy to know the ancient vampire had survived if only she could remember him.

Clarke, listening to Hope's thoughts, remained silent. Returning those memories wasn't the problem. The problem was Sebastian returning at all. Hope hadn't realized yet that Sebastian's return might have meant another portal had opened. Sebastian _may_ have come through before she cast the spell to block the portal but, either way, Malivore couldn't contain the vampire. Sebastian was back in this world and depending on when he arrived, well, that was another problem for the Salvatore school and his brother to deal with. He didn't want Hope's attention anywhere else but on helping him.

"Then make sure you tell her about _him_ while you're at it," Lizzie said, indicating Clarke. "So what did Frodo have to say about his brother hitching a ride in his girlfriend?"

"She hasn't told him yet," Clarke announced, his smarmy smile showing his amusement.

"I will," Hope insisted. She honestly hadn't even thought again about telling Landon. After her initial decision, too much had happened. She sort of...forgot that it was kind of important.

"You are so screwed," Lizzie said, shaking her head.

"Gee, thanks," Hope returned sardonically. But she wasn't wrong. She _had_ put it off too long.

"Maybe it's for the best," Clarke suggested. "That dream you had last night—"

"Clarke!" she threw a pillow at him, not that it could actually hit him.

"He can see your dreams?" Lizzie asked, intrigued.

"Make appearances too," he said, grinning.

"Way to be creepy, Freddy Krueger," the blonde told him.

"Funny, because he _is_ a nightmare," Hope sighed dramatically.

Clarke smirked.

"Anyway," Lizzie turned to Hope. "I have class to get ready for. Last I saw, my evil twin was heading to the library. Try not to get on her bad side."

"I'll do my best."

* * *

"Maybe we should ask Doctor Saltzman?" Landon asked.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Rafael said. "It probably happened during the time before I ended up in that camper, when I can't remember."

"Malivore!"

"What?"

"I wonder if whoever did this to you went into the Malivore pit," Landon suggested. "Maybe that's why you can't remember?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Rafael latched onto his brother's theory, willing to accept that. "And I definitely don't want to remember how _this_ happened. So it's all good."

"It looks bad though."

Rafael shook his head. "It looks like it's already kind of healed up. Super wolf healing powers and all."

"You sure you don't want to ask anybody...?"

"I'm sure," Rafael said. "I'm not sure about my schedule since I've been gone so long...what class do you have this morning?"

"I don't," Landon's eyes sparkled. "I'm gonna practice flying, see if I can do it again. It's _so cool_. Check it out, I'm meeting Wade in the clearing. Come with? You might get to see me in action."

He nodded then looked at him. "Wait, Wade?" he asked.

"Yep," Landon grinned. "He's a fairy."

"Oh...kay?" Rafael agreed with some confusion. He clearly missed a lot.

"Sweet!"

* * *

"Hey, Jos," Hope said, approaching the twin and trying to act as natural as possible. Josie still looked pretty much like she always did.

"Oh hey," she looked up from her book. "What's up?"

"Listen," the tribrid began. "Someone else went into the Malivore pit, so I was wondering..."

"You want me to restore the memories?" Josie asked, eyes widening. "Who is it?"

"He's a...friend of Lizzie's?" Hope tried to explain, but really, how does one explain Sebastian? "He stayed behind to be the anchor in the prison world so you could all survive."

"I wondered how we'd all gotten back," the brunette said. "Sure, I'll do it. Just let me—"

"I was thinking tonight?" Hope interrupted. "There's no hurry, and since everyone passes out it'd probably be best if—"

"If I did it when most everyone is already asleep," Josie finished with a slight smile. "No problem, Hope. Anything else?"

Hope struggled to figure out how best to bring up Clarke.

Josie's head suddenly came up and her eyes filled with the ominous black.

"Josie?..." Hope asked cautiously.

She raised a finger to indicate Hope should give her a second.

_"We're not alone."_

Hope's breath caught and a chill ran down her spine. Josie had said that in her dream. Despite the feeling that maybe her dream _had_ been a premonition—and the fear for Landon that came with that possibility—she wondered if she meant they weren't alone because Clarke was listening through Hope and she somehow knew it.

Josie's head turned left while the rest of her body remained straight forward, giving a creepy effect. Suddenly, her head swung to the right and she used her finger to shoot out a cloud of magic, black as night.

Hope sat back quickly to watch the magic rise up off the floor and come towards them.

It was more than disconcerting to see what looked like a human eyeball attached to an optic nerve floating within the black smoke.

"What is _that_?" Hope said with disgust. "That's so gross."

" _A spy,_ " Josie said in the same matter-of-fact tone she had used when Hope projected into the prison world.

The dark eyed girl tilted her head, looking at the orb curiously.

" _Perdere_ ," she said.

The eyeball twitched before shrinking, the magic consuming it until it was completely destroyed.

"Who..." Hope realized human parts, _zombie_ , it all added up to one. "Necromancer."

Nodding as if that answered all of her questions, Josie turned back to look at the other girl, eyes still dark as night.

" _Clarke. He was with you before. Why?_ "

"He's linked to me," Hope explained carefully. She was relieved Josie had brought it up so she didn't have to. "I'm going to try to put him back into his body, but the Necromancer turned it into another Malivore portal. So I need help..."

" _I will do it_."

Hope's skin buzzed as she sat up straight. "You...want to help?"

" _Don't need help,_ " she said.

Stunned, Hope leaned back. _Josie_ wanted to help _Clarke_? Lizzie would kill her if she let Josie use black magic to bring Clarke back.

"I thought you hated him," she said. "Since when are you his...biggest fan?"

" _I owe him._ "

"What for?"

" _The magic_."

Feeling another hum in her skin, she grasped her necklace to ground herself. Dark Josie wasn't upset with Clarke because she was grateful for the power. _Well, that was new_.

"It's a big spell, are you sure you don't need help?" Hope asked, thinking of how drained she had been after putting the seal over the portal.

Josie stared at her.

"I'll take that as a 'no'." She still thought it would be too much for her, she would definitely be weak after doing the spell and need to... _siphon more_. She suddenly had an idea to help Josie _and_ Clarke.

Abruptly, Josie's eyes closed and she slumped. When her eyes opened again, the black was gone and it was their Josie.

"Hope?" she asked. "I asked if you needed anything else?"

"No..." Hope said softly. "I have everything I need."

* * *

"Dad, I don't think Josie's okay," Lizzie admitted to her father.

"Why?" Alaric asked.

"Twin sympathy," she explained. "I had some more...residual effects this morning." She groaned thinking about it. One day she wanted to make her sister feel what it felt like, except she would have to do black magic to do it and she refused to. _Especially_ after she saw what it did to Josie.

"Are you sure it's not just from her doing the spell to get us back here?" he asked.

 _Huh_. She hadn't thought of that.

"I guess it could be," she said, suddenly uncertain.

"I think that's all it is," he said. "But let me know if you notice anything else."

"Okay..."

Leaving to go to her next class, she sent Hope a text telling her she thought the black magic really was gone.

**Not gone. Have plan. Come see me later tonight.**

With trepidation, she confirmed she would be there.

She hoped Clarke made another appearance if only so she could chew him out for what he did to Josie some more. She hated that she needed anything from him. She also hated that Hope was helping him. She didn't understand that at all. And the way they interacted with each other...

She _would_ warn Landon to watch out, but he didn't even know there was a problem yet.

Hopefully that all went well, whenever Hope told him about Clarke. Landon _was_ a pretty understanding guy, so maybe it would be fine.

* * *

"Noooo!" The Necromancer, or _Ted_ , as he still referred to him in his head, tossed over his seeing eye pot for the last time.

Chad stood back, waiting for Ted to get over his temper tantrum.

"We were finally getting somewhere good!" he complained. "They are going to search for another mora miserium! I bet they do too, those kids are terribly resourceful."

"They are," Chad agreed.

"I'm going to need to step up my timetable," the dark sorcerer said thoughtfully. "I _need_ to be restored to my full power."

"What are you going to do?" he asked, wary of what would happen next. He really didn't want anyone else to die. He felt completely powerless though. He had been turned into a puppet. Just call him Kermit.

"You'll see..." Ted grinned devilishly.

* * *

If she hadn't already seen that he really could fly, she would think her boyfriend had lost his mind. He was clearly obsessed with flying. Yet, he couldn't seem to figure out how to do it again.

"Put more flap into it?" Wade suggested.

Landon moved his arms like he was imitating a chicken. "I told you before, this wouldn't work. The fact that I'm trying it now just shows how desperate I am."

Watching them, Hope giggled. He really was adorable.

Rafael put his hands on his shoulders, effectively stopping his movements. "You look ridiculous."

Landon laughed, "I know." He dropped his arms. "What do you suggest?"

"Maybe it's not about what you're doing physically," Rafael said. "Maybe it's about what you're feeling? Both times you flew, what was happening?"

"The first time I was with Hope," he said. "And the second, well, Dorian's life depended on it."

"So, it's an emotional thing," Rafael concluded.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Wade interjected. "Do that instead."

"Do what, exactly?" Landon asked.

"You know, _feel_ ," Rafael said. "Deeply. Just use your emotions."

Landon tried to focus with his arms spread out, searching for some feeling or emotion. He came up empty and said, "Flap flap?" before laughing and dropping his arms again.

Hope laughed out loud along with him, catching his attention.

He brightened considerably, waving at her.

"Take a break," Rafael said. "Go see your girl."

Not needing to be told twice, Landon went to her.

Shaking his head, Rafael watched his friend. His brother was truly lucky to have her. He wished he didn't have some feelings toward her himself, but he did. Eventually he would get past it and be able to be friends with her again. In the meantime, he felt like even talking to her or being friends with her was a betrayal to Landon. He wouldn't be hanging with her because of the friendship; he would be hanging with her because he liked the way it felt to spend time with her.

He absentmindedly rubbed at the cut on his abdomen through his shirt. He lied to Landon. He _did_ want to know how it happened. Something didn't feel right when Malivore was mentioned. He didn't think that was the reason he couldn't remember. He just didn't know the real reason. It scared him, losing time like that. It was a complete blank. Even when he couldn't remember Hope, he didn't lose a large chunk of time.

"That doesn't look good."

Distracted by Landon's new friend, Rafael looked back at the happy couple...who didn't look too happy.

The fairy was right. Landon, who very rarely argued and avoided confrontation, was frowning and arguing with Hope. She appeared worried, apologetic, and a little desperate.

_What's that about?_

* * *

"So he's here, listening right now?" Landon said, trying to wrap his mind around her words.

"No, well, maybe?" She explained. "I always warn him before I see you so he can block...things out."

He blanched. _Things_? Meaning, all of their private moments that had apparently been shared with his brother since... _when?_

"How long has he been linked to you?"

"Since the night the portal was closed," she answered.

" _That_ long?" He was shocked. That was the night they got back together. "And you're just telling me now?"

"Yes."

"Why now?"

"Because you should know," she said. "Especially since we'll be getting his body back soon."

"His _what_?" Landon gripped his head, trying to take it all in. "You can't possibly be thinking about bringing him back."

"I am."

"He tried to help our father turn me into a meat suit, and he tried to kill you," he said, dropping his hands back to his sides. "He's not a good guy, Hope. Why are you helping him?"

"He's got information about the twins' merge," she said.

"Fine, bring him back. Get the information and just destroy the body again," he argued. "He would do it to you."

"I can't do that," she shook her head.

"Why not?" he pushed.

"Because he's—" she cut off suddenly.

"He's what?" he latched onto her words. She was holding something back and he wanted to know what.

"He's...a friend," she said softly, looking like she was only just realizing that herself.

He turned away, unable to believe her words.

"He's not as bad as you think," she didn't know how to explain. "It'll be okay. Please, just trust me."

He was silent for several long moments.

"No."

"No?" she asked.

He turned back around. "You put your foot down about me being the hero, so this is me, putting my foot down over this. You can't bring him back."

"You didn't bother listening to me about the hero thing," she pointed out, feeling a little taken aback.

"No, I didn't," he said. "You've been protective of me to the point of obsession. It's my turn to protect you, and I'm telling you, _no_. You aren't going to help him."

"You're _telling_ me what to do?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, for once I'm telling _you_ what to do," he said. "I've always supported you in anything you wanted to do, even though you don't always support me, but I'm not supporting you in this."

"I've always supported you," she said, confused and trying to placate him.

"Please don't do that," he said, shaking his head. "Don't patronize me. You didn't support me when I was trying to fly—"

"I didn't want you to get hurt!" she interrupted.

"You treated me like a child," he said. "Which I was okay with because I know you love me and just want to protect me. But this relationship takes two. If you want me to listen to you, you have to listen to me."

"I _do_ listen to you," she said. "I'm sorry if I've gotten a little crazy trying to protect you, but I just didn't want to lose you."

"That's not the point," he said. "I don't care about that; I care about you bringing Clarke back."

"If I don't bring him back, if I unlink him, he'll just cease to exist," she said.

"Good!"

"I can't," she shook her head. "I can't do what you want. I'm sorry."

How could he possibly reach her? She was making a horrible mistake. How could he get her to see reason? She hadn't been very reasonable for a while now, especially when she tried to stop him from becoming who he wanted to be. She needed to take a step back, take a break and see the bigger picture.

 _That's it_ , he realized. No matter how much the idea hurt him, he had to do it for her. He had to protect her the only way he knew how.

"I think we should take a break," he said.

Her head shot up in shock. "W-what?"

"I think it's what's best," he said with more confidence than he felt. He couldn't believe he was doing this, but he had to.

"B-but, no," her eyes shimmered. "It's not. It's not what's best. We can figure this out, you can't just—"

"I'm sorry, Hope," he said stiffly. If he stood around a moment longer, her tears would break his resolve. He turned and walked back to his friends before she started crying.

"Landon?" he could hear her tearful voice over his shoulder. _Just keep walking, just keep walking. It's for her own good._ "Landon!?"

"Everything okay?" Rafael asked, looking over Landon's shoulder at Hope still standing across the clearing.

"It will be," he said, as if saying it would make it true.

He returned to the spot he picked for his flight launch that was a safe distance from the guys if the blazing wings ever worked. He reached down deep inside, focusing on the one emotion screaming at his insides.

"So, I was thinking—" Wade started to give a new theory on flying.

Before he could finish, Landon's wings swung out in a burst of red hot flame.

Rafael and Wade cheered in amazement.

He looked at the sky and sent out his emotions to his wings. They answered his command and he flew up.

Everyone on the ground stared in amazement, except for one lone girl who was trying desperately to hold herself together.

* * *

Lizzie stomped her foot impatiently.

It was _later_ as Hope had asked, so why was she taking forever to answer her door? Fortunately, Alyssa Chang was still in a cell beneath the school. Her father was making sure to drag out her punishment, ensuring the girl had seen the error of her ways. He would probably release her tomorrow though. In Lizzie's opinion, she should totally be expelled.

Finally hearing the turn of the knob, Hope opened her door and she looked positively _wrecked_. Her eyes were a puffy mess, her face was splotchy and her hair was falling out of her ponytail all over the place.

"What happened to you?"

Hope left the door open and walked back to give Lizzie space to come in.

Lizzie did, closing the door behind her.

"Hope?"

She shook her head, obviously trying to keep herself together. She didn't succeed as her face crumbled when the tears started again.

Lizzie didn't know what had happened, but she knew when she was needed.

She reached out her arms to Hope who practically flung herself into them.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

In the dark of the night, Josie focused and cast the ancient Japanese spell to return all of their memories as she told Hope she would do.

She made sure she was sitting in her bed when she did it. She waited as long as possible for Lizzie to return to their room and fall asleep before she cast the spell, but it didn't seem like her sister would be returning that night.

Within moments after she cast the spell and everyone, including herself, had passed out, her bedroom door opened.

White eyes glowing, Rafael made his way to the side of her bed. He pulled her blankets back. 

Slipping his arms under her, he quickly lifted her and left, disappearing into the night.


	8. Special Delivery!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

She was bathed in sunlight, standing before an easel, intent in her strokes upon the canvas.

Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, tendrils escaping down her neck. A bit of paint smudged along her cheek. She wore a man's white dress shirt fashioned as a smock, the shirt tails tied at her waist. Old cut off shorts completed the outfit.

Clarke took in the room. It was a wide open studio area with plenty of natural light making its way inside, brightening a room already exploding with color and art in various styles and mediums. There were tables loaded with bottles of paint and a variety of brush sizes. Closer to one of the large windows, he noticed a table filled with potted plants of the brightest flowers and even a couple potted bushes of berries.

After the day she had, he wasn't surprised her dreams had taken her to this quiet peaceful place.

Deciding not to interrupt, he wandered around to glimpse the different works showcased. Landscapes, portraits, cityscapes, a simple bowl of fruit, a full moon peeking through a forest top—if these existed outside of her mind, she was truly gifted.

"What do you think?" she asked, glancing at him around the easel.

"Superior to my own," he complimented, pausing to take in a simple portrait of a young man. 

The long hair and face were done in shades of orange with blue used to draw out the eyes. If he had to guess, he was looking at a younger, more unkempt version of her father. He was drawn to it because he could tell it wasn't made in a traditional sense. "What did you use here?"

"Marigold and blueberries," she nodded toward the table he noticed earlier. "You paint?" She resumed her work, concentrating once again.

"When needed," he said, wondering to the table in question. "Keeping track of events in history, none that are remembered...a family history of sorts." 

He lost the complete history when he escaped from Triad with Landon through the tunnels, leaving the pages behind. He actually mourned its loss since he had originally created it as a way to show some kind of proof that he existed. His life's story and origin. He should probably recreate it.

He saw a well used mortar and pestle. "What binder do you use?"

"Usually sap, then emulsify with water," she said, stopping to look at him in surprise. "You've made your own paint before."

He shrugged. It wasn't really a big deal, though it was strange that a girl born in this century would bother learning how. "Had to if I wanted to use it."

"My father had to make his own paint as a child," she explained with a fond smile. "I use it when I'm feeling nostalgic."

He nodded. _Of course_ , he thought. Her father was never far from her mind, especially in her dreams.

"How old _are_ you then," she asked, "that you had to make your own paint too?"

"I'm just a kid, remember?" he smiled softly. 

He never knew how to answer that question. 

When building a cover, he tried to start out as close to twenty as he dared so he could keep it as long as possible before moving on in case people realized he wasn't aging. And since he was created, not born and grown, he really had no idea what age he was supposed to be. 

"How old are _you_?"

"Eighteen. But, seriously, how old are you?" she asked again with a prodding smile.

"Better off asking how long I've been around," he said.

"Isn't that the same thing?" she smiled. "When's your birthday?"

"When's yours?" he turned the question back on her again, just to be a smart ass.

She rolled her eyes and resumed painting, "In May." she thought for a moment and chuckled. "I actually spent my eighteenth birthday with you."

"Sorry the balloon animals were a little...monstrous?" he quipped.

She laughed out loud and he had to join her. He didn't remember ever seeing her smile that big and open—especially not while talking to him.

"Where are we?" he nodded toward the windows where he could see little shops across the street with two stories above the main level, balconies built higher up for onlookers to observe the street below.

"New Orleans," she explained, dipping her brush in more paint. "Home."

He had seen a few paintings in her collection of this very city. "You love it here."

"It's just a place though," she smiled, looking out at the town. "Someone once told me that _people_ are much better suited to fill our hearts."

"Let me guess," he said slyly. "Your father."

"It's like you can read my mind or something," she smirked.

He winked.

She stared at him, contemplating. "You seem happy."

Clarke couldn't deny it. The entire conversation with his brother had destroyed her, but when she called him a friend and refused to kill him, well, he had gotten his first dose of his _own_ happiness. He didn't even know if he knew how to be someone's friend but apparently he had done something right or else she wouldn't have stood up for him.

He had every intention of upholding his end of their bargain, but now he would do it with much less reluctance.

"Does it always feel like that?" he asked softly.

"Hmm?" she murmured, brows furrowed in concentration at a particularly difficult maneuver on the canvas.

"Having a friend."

"You heard that part," she acknowledged, voice nearly a whisper.

"Kind of hard to miss," he said, not even feeling guilty for listening in. 

He couldn't block her out once her emotions started going haywire. He was privy to the entire breakup. He wasn't sure he understood why Landon had done it, probably because _she_ wasn't sure why his brother had done it. His brother was clearly an idiot. Had Landon really broken up with her because of _him_? Did Landon think she would change her mind about helping him by breaking up with her?

She went silent, deliberately focusing on her canvas with harder, more deliberate brush strokes. 

It was clear now that the painting was distracting her from the very situation he just brought up. He went silent too, allowing her to lose herself in her work again.

Several long moments passed before her face cleared and she looked at him once more. 

"Don't you ever wear anything else?"

Looking down, he shrugged. "This is your mind. Apparently you think I wear the same thing every day." 

His long sleeve dress shirt, slacks, and black blazer weren't a bad look. He just hadn't realized when he dressed that long ago morning he would still be wearing it months later. 

"Which reminds me, I'll need clothes once Josie does the spell."

"Noted," she said with a small quirk of the lips.

Eyeing her suspiciously, he said, "A quarter zipper pullover, t-shirt, and black jeans. Don't you dare get me the same thing I'm wearing."

She snickered. "You'll wear whatever I get; you don't really have much choice in the matter."

"Oh, believe me, I do," he smirked knowingly, daring her to find out what he would do if she didn't abide by his wishes.

Dropping her mouth open, she flung paint from her brush at him.

"How old are you again?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I'll get what you want," she gave in.

"Thank you."

"What're you going to do?" she asked. "Once you're back in your body, I mean?"

He wondered over to the window, looking down at the activity in the streets. 

"I'm...not sure." 

His entire life had been consumed by seeking revenge against his father or approval from his father. Neither of which had worked out. Could he give up his lifelong mission? And if he didn't, what was he going to do? It wasn't like he could return to his father. He failed in his tasks on both counts. He didn't deliver Landon to his father, and he didn't destroy the tribrid. Not that he would ever try to finish that second one now.

"What does Hope Mikaelson want to do when the monsters are gone and she graduates?" he asked her instead, once more turning her question back on her.

"Are the monsters ever really gone though?" Sighing, she continued. "I'd like to travel. There are so many places I haven't seen yet. New Orleans is this amazing melding of cultures but to experience them around the world? Just imagine how that would inspire my work."

"What about a job?" he asked bluntly.

"I'd like to help supernaturals," she said. "I mean, I do that anyway. And I'd do it anytime, anywhere. I don't need an actual job, I'm a Mikaelson. My father fancied himself the king of New Orleans, believe me, his little princess is well provided for."

He nodded. This, then, was where they differed. She wanted to protect the very things he spent centuries ridding the world of. Amazingly, she didn't hold that against him.

Hoping to avoid her questioning him on the topic again, he changed the subject.

"Your plan is a good one," he said, referring to her plan for Josie.

"I know," she said.

She stepped back from her painting. "It's finished."

He walked over to see her latest work of art.

The subject was the side profile of Josie Saltzman in shimmering white, back to back with the side profile of her darker self in the darkest black, connected by the backside of their heads with a jagged line formed where the white paint met the black.

"You think it'll work?" she asked.

"Knowing you?" he said with a small smile. "Absolutely."

Though she fought it, sleep drifted away from her. She wanted to return to the peaceful place where she could paint and drift away from all her troubles. She didn't even mind that Clarke was there. He made her laugh, which was something she needed desperately.

But, if sleep was her escape, that meant awakening brought back all the things she was trying to flee. Memories flashed and she buried her face in her pillow, groaning. She did _not_ want to do today. She just wanted to skip the entire day. In fact, she wanted to skip this entire thing and jump ahead to when she and Landon were back together and she could think of all of this as the nightmare it was.

" _I think we should take a break."_

She reminded herself again that he had only said "a break". He didn't technically break up with her; they were just... taking a break.

So why did it feel like the end of the world?

Lizzie turned in her sleep, flinging out an arm that smacked Hope in the face.

"Ow!"

The blonde opened her eyes and squinted. "Oh, it's you."

Hope grumbled and rolled away, sitting up.

Lizzie's eyes fell closed again then opened with realization. "Sebastian!"

"You're welcome," Hope mumbled.

"He really made it..." she smiled to herself. Sebastian may not be the one for her, but she didn't want him to die. "But how did—"

"I asked Josie to do it," Hope explained, stumbling to her feet.

"Her Royal Darkness agreed?" Lizzie asked in disbelief, sitting up.

"That's the thing," the tribrid explained. "I think _our_ Josie agreed, not Dark Josie."

"So, our Josie is still there?"

"The effects you felt? I think that was dark Josie separating the two inside her own mind," Hope said.

"You mean like a split personality?" she asked. "But why separate, why not suppress her?"

"Because separating means our Josie doesn't know what Dark Josie is doing. Dark Josie appeared to me yesterday but when our Josie took control, she had no idea what the other had done or said."

"What did she say when the darkness took over?" Lizzie asked.

"She wants to help Clarke, and she wants to do it all by herself."

"Over my dead body," the blonde deadpanned.

"Think about it," Hope said. "The amount of power required for that spell? It would drain her."

Lizzie frowned, thinking. "Go on..."

"If only there was a source of power close by, a source of earth magic to replace all that expelled dark energy," she said, smiling knowingly.

Eyes widening, Lizzie began to smile, "I like this plan."

_Boom!_

The girls jumped, both turning to look at the bedroom door that now stood wide open.

"I'm back, bitches," Alyssa said, strolling into the room. "And you," she pointed at Lizzie, "aren't welcome here."

"She's my guest," Hope practically snarled at her.

"It's not _your_ room, Hope," Alyssa snapped. "It's _ours_. OUT." She glared.

Hope crossed her arms, glaring right back. She didn't have time to deal with her roommate's release. Why couldn't she have a single again?

Lizzie didn't want to stay much longer anyway, she had to get back to her room, get ready, and see Josie. She wouldn't have stayed over at all but Hope needed her.

"I'm just gonna go, _Hope_ ," she said with as much attitude as possible. "Watch your back around this one. She's sadistic."

"Guess your bed finally got some action," Alyssa spat at Hope. "Just not the phoenix-shaped kind I thought. Trouble in paradise?"

Hope clenched her fists, willing herself not to send Alyssa flying across the room again.

"Shut up, Alyssa," Lizzie retorted.

"Ooh, burn," the other witch said sarcastically, rolling her eyes before turning away and heading to her side of the room, effectively dismissing them.

 _Bitch_ , Lizzie and Hope both mouthed at each other.

* * *

"So, you and Lizzie want to bombard her with earth magic before the black magic has a chance to build itself back up?" Doctor Saltzman asked.

"Yes," Hope explained. She knew she had to involve her mentor and pseudo father in this. He deserved to know that his daughter was struggling.

He _didn't_ need to know that Josie would expend her black magic by bringing Clarke back. Considering Clarke was responsible for Josie's current predicament, he would probably have a problem with that. Given how upfront she was with Landon about it and _that_ blowing up in her face, she preferred to just bring Clarke back _then_ deal with whatever consequences awaited her.

"So how are you going to get her to use that much power?" he asked.

"The Necromancer."

He sat up straighter. "That guy's back?"

"Yeah, and he's doing some super creepy stuff at the cemetery," she explained. "Looked like some kind of distorted form of consecration."

"You've been there?" he asked, worried. "Alone?"

"No..." she said with a slight smile. "I wasn't alone. But it was just to get information. I didn't tip anyone off that I was there."

"You think the darkness in Josie is powerful enough to destroy that guy?"

"Yes," she nodded. _No_. Well, she probably could, but she needed to figure out a way to deal with the necromancer herself. Josie was needed for Clarke.

Lizzie burst through the door suddenly. "Change of plans, Josie's missing and I have no idea where she is."

 _Yeah, that definitely changes things,_ Hope thought, worried.

* * *

Rafael woke to a sight he never thought he would see.

Landon was actually attempting to perform push-ups. Not for gym class, but because he _wanted_ to.

"What are you doing?"

"What" pant "does it" pant "look like" pant "I'm doing," Landon collapsed on the floor.

"Push ups," Rafael said. "But why? You hate working out."

"Can't protect anyone if I'm not the best me I can be," the phoenix said, regaining his stance to resume more of the exercise.

"I'm all for exercise and all, but..."

"Not you too," Landon stopped and sat up on his knees. "Hope keeps trying to make me stop too. Can someone just let me do what I want to do? Support me in my goals?"

"You're doing it wrong," the wolf finished.

"Oh," Landon looked down at himself, going over his form in his head.

"Look, bro, I don't think all _this_ ," Rafael motioned to take in Landon's current situation, "is about wanting to be the best. I think you know you made a dick move, breaking up with Hope, and now you're trying everything you can to not think about it."

"It's a _break_ ," Landon clarified, not for the first time. "We're taking a _break_. I didn't break up with her."

"Dude," Rafael shook his head at him. "Taking a break means you don't want to be with her right now, but you don't want anyone else to be either. It gives her hope, and keeps her right where _you_ want her."

"No, it's nothing like that," he denied. "I'm not trying to control her. I just... she wants to bring Clarke back. If she brings him back, he's just going to try to kill us all again. Taking a break shows her how serious I am. She couldn't see that before, but maybe she will now."

"And you say you're not trying to control her?" the darker boy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's making a mistake," Landon insisted.

"Then it's her mistake to make," Rafael said. "You make mistakes all the time, but she'd never break up with you for that."

"Whose side are you on?" Landon said, but the uncertainty shown on his face.

"Yours," his brother said. "Always. But this isn't about sides. You shouldn't give up on the people you love."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Yeah?" Rafael hollered since Landon currently looked pole axed, finally realizing he screwed up.

Wade opened the door and popped his head in, "Hey guys."

 _I could've sworn I locked that_ , Rafael thought. "What's up, Wade?" He reached for the water bottle at his bedside.

"Doctor Saltzman called an assembly," the fairy explained. "Word is Josie's missing."

That caught both of the boys' attention.

"We're on our way," Rafael said.

Wade left, closing the door behind him. Landon sprung to his feet and went to toss some clothes on.

Rafael drew back his blankets to rise but stopped when he saw his feet. They were covered in dried dirt, most of which had wiped off on his bottom sheet.

_What in the world?_

* * *

Her plan was unraveling.

She figured out everything down to one last big hurdle—taking out the Necromancer—but now that Josie was missing she wasn't even sure she would be able to help Clarke.

They _needed_ to find Josie.

Had Dark Josie taken over their Josie in the middle of the night and decided to leave? They knew Josie had at least done the spell to return the Sebastian memories to everyone.

It didn't make any sense. Dark Josie had given _no_ indication she was leaving. What would be the point of telling Hope she would help Clarke, or even revealing she still existed inside of Josie if she were leaving?

Locater spells hadn't worked, so she must be cloaked. Hope, and Lizzie, didn't allow for any other eventuality there. Josie had to be okay. She was just missing.

Professor Saltzman had rallied the troops. He sent out the older vampires and werewolves to search the school grounds, to even go out into the community to try to find some trace of her and pick up a trail. As for the witches, except for Alyssa who no one trusted at this point, he asked them to help Lizzie and Hope with the plan to help Josie once she was found.

Everyone had a task to perform, but she was anxious.

_Where was Josie?!_

* * *

This was definitely not her bedroom.

Josie woke feeling cold and confused. She also woke with cuffs around her wrists connected by a chain. Glancing around, she saw she was sitting in the middle of a sacred circle. _What's going on?_

"Pssst..." came a soft whisper. "Are you awake?"

She didn't like this. She didn't know where she was, what had happened, and she was freezing. Someone whispering to her in a creepy red robe that hid their face amped the weirdness factor to a solid eight.

The spell knocked her out, she remembered. That must've been how she wasmoved without waking up.

Taking stock of her surroundings, she ignored the whisper and instead tried to siphon the magic from the circle. Nothing happened. She tried again. And again.

Feeling powerless, she tried _again_.

"The cuffs won't let you do magic, if that's what you're trying to do," the soft voice came again.

The cuffs must be spelled with the same anti-magic that her father had used on that blood fountain last year. Cursing, she sat back and tried to think. How could she get out of this?

"Chad?" she heard another voice, this one further away. "Is our guest awake?"

"N-n-no..." Chad answered. "Not yet."

"Really?" Josie heard a sound from the opposite direction now, so she turned to look behind her. "She looks bright eyed and bushy-tailed to me."

The weirdness factor hit a hard ten, as the new guy had a face out of nightmares. Hope had drawn a picture of the monster that brought their bio mom back to life last year. This was definitely that guy.

"What do you want and how did I get here?" she demanded to know.

"You're not the one I want to talk to," he replied.

"Then why did you kidnap _me_?" she tried again to siphon the circle, and again it didn't work.

"There's someone else in there," he studied her. "The darkness, she's just beneath the surface. That's the one I want."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said. The darkness was gone, it had to be. Once she returned from the prison world, she returned to normal.

"Oh yes, the little spell she did so you wouldn't cause any trouble," he said. "She's listening though. She knows."

She didn't like the sound of that. "Well, I'll let her know you asked about her. In the meantime, let me go."

"Just as soon as I get that darkness out of you," he said.

"Fine! Just take it! I don't want it," she exclaimed. "Then let me go."

"It's not that simple," he said. "She won't let you give it up. But if you were to touch another mora miserium, will the transfer of power to the dark object, she couldn't stop you."

"Then hand over the thing," she said, exasperated.

"Gotta wait for your little friends to find one," he said. "They know about her, and want to get rid of her too."

Her friends...she thought back to Hope approaching her in the library, how hesitant she seemed, and the fact that Lizzie hadn't come to the room last night. Did they know the darkness was still there? Why didn't they tell her?

"So you're holding me as what? Ransom?" she asked. "They give you a sand clock that I transfer the magic into and you let me go?"

"Pretty much," he said, nodding at his simple plan.

"Did they give you any sort of time frame?" she wanted to know. "How long is this going to take? Because I'm cold, hungry, and seriously need to pee."

He groaned and looked heavenward. "Chad! See to it."

Chad hesitated but quickly went to find her food and a blanket before _Ted_ took his choice away and made him do it. He didn't know what to do for her last request, but he would figure it out...somehow.

"About that time frame?" she demanded to know.

"Stop making demands," The Necromancer said. "They'll be here when they get here."

With those final words, he disappeared.

Rolling her eyes at his 'grand exit', she went back to working on the cuffs.

In the other room, he appeared next to Chad who was making her a peanut butter sandwich.

"Feed the girl, but then I need you to deliver a ransom note."

"Me?" Chad asked, feeling suddenly timid. "How am I going to do that without them seeing me?" And why hadn't he made the wolf leave the note last night? Had he forgotten until now to make his demands known?

"Just do it, Chad."

"Fine." Chad slapped the bread down on top of the sandwich.

"Attitude, Chad."

"I'll do it, Eternal Master," Chad said, hoping all sarcasm was gone from his voice.

"Right then," he said with a nod.

* * *

_Power. That's what I wanted. More power._

_When little Josie Saltzman broke the sand clock and all that power came rushing to her, it created me. The worst parts, the darkest parts, all wound together._

_The co-dependent girl of years before who couldn't make a choice without getting approval from the sister she lived to please. The girlfriend of a phoenix plagued by jealousy and insecurities. The broken hearted girl who didn't have a choice but to accept that she wasn't loved as much as she hoped. Her worst fears coming true: she wasn't good enough. The naïve girl who trusted the wrong man, who seduced her with black magic and, in the end, made her question every single choice she ever made once again._

_When you spend years suppressing all of that, sometimes it can overwhelm. The black magic that took over the girl with the kindest most bruised heart_ changed _that heart._

_Part of the girl was holding on and, instead of fighting her and making my presence known to her, I let her be her own person. Eventually I'll be so powerful she'll never make an appearance again._

_I heard the conversation with The Necromancer. I was amused. I thought about giving in and showing up as he wanted. I knew he only wanted to see if his bindings would hold with me as well as they did with her._

_They wouldn't._

_I already knew how to break through, but I'm curious._

_What does this creature really want with my power? What was he up to? And was there a way to use the sand clock to take the power from him instead?_

_I'm not worried that the tribrid will try to take my power away when she shows up. She needs me. She knows I need to use my magic if she wants to get Clarke back. She won't do anything to stop that. I could see the desperation in her. He mattered to her._

_He mattered to me too, only because I wouldn't have what I have without him. I don't want to owe anyone. For that very reason, I will help him._

_Maybe he could even offer thoughts on the best way for me to gain even more power._

_Either way, this Necromancer guy would fail._

_I will never be powerless again._

* * *

"Special delivery, Hope," one of the witches said, returning from the hall with a large package.

"Oh, put it over there," she waved distractedly. She ordered Clarke's clothes same-day delivery before she went to see Doctor Saltzman about Josie. She had to make sure he wasn't running around in his birthday suit once Josie raised him.

The witches had completed their task then gone back to scrying for Josie's location. The endeavor was pretty pointless but it made them happy to be doing something.

Hope was about to join the search outside when there was a loud bang heard down the hall. The room suddenly filled with werewolves. Hope looked to them for news.

Jed, with his cocky grin, said, "Special delivery!"

"Another one?" Hope wondered.

Rafael came through the crowd, gripping hold of a figure in a red hood. When he reached Hope, he pulled the hood back to reveal...

 _A human?_ One who looked really scared and overwhelmed?

"Found this guy, he says he has a message for us, about Josie," Rafael said. "Figured you'd want to talk."

"H-hi," the tall and timid blonde started. "I'm Ch-Chad."

"Well, hello, _Ch-Chad_ ," Hope said, eyes gleaming...

"I'm listening."


	9. I'm Too Pretty For Prison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"He wants the mirror mineria thing, or however you say it," Chad said, trying to calm down.

At least they moved him to the headmaster's office _far_ away from the hoard of werewolves that had come out of nowhere when he was taking a simple stroll to deliver the note.

Instead, he only had five scary people to deal with. Hope, Lizzie, the Indiana Jones guy, the vampire with the big hair, and the werewolf alpha.

He especially feared the alpha one. Not because he was a wolf, but because _Ted_ could take him over at any minute. Chad didn't want to say anything wrong in front of him just in case.

He was surrounded. They let him sit in one of the chairs. The headmaster sat in his chair with Hope and Lizzie standing on either side of him. The wolf was in the other chair next to him turned to face him, with the vampire standing and leaning against a bookcase.

"The mora miserium," Alaric provided, patience wearing thin as the day wore on and his daughter still wasn't home.

"Yes, that," Chad said. "He knows you guys plan to get another one. He wants it. Then he'll let her go."

"He couldn't just use his _own_ Prime account to find one?" Lizzie asked, exasperated.

Deep in thought, Hope tried to understand why the Necromancer wanted a sand clock.

"How did he know you guys were going to look for one?" MG asked.

"A spy..." Hope supplied, trailing off still in thought. Everyone looked at her and she realized she needed to provide them more than that. "This really gross eyeball thing was spying on me and Dark Josie. She destroyed it." _Right_ after she asked Josie to return their memories again.

"He knew she was going to return the memories," she said aloud. "That's how he knew he could get to her. He waited 'til she cast the spell so she would pass out."

"But how did he get into the school to take her?" Alaric asked. "And how come he didn't bring the note himself?" Or at least drop it off with a little more of his usual pizzazz.

Everyone turned to stare at Chad again.

Chad shifted. He went to reply, but he couldn't. Not because some force was stopping him, but because the alpha was still there. He couldn't chance giving away anything Ted didn't want revealed.

"He wouldn't have sent you if he could just pop in and do it himself," Hope said thoughtfully. "Which means he can't..." He would trip the school's wards, alerting everyone to his presence.

"Which means someone else took Josie," MG realized, leaning forward.

"There's another spy," Alaric concluded.

Rafael looked down, remembering the dirt on his feet earlier that morning and the unlocked door. He touched his side where the cut was still very visible. The Necromancer had taken over Cassie last year, bringing her back to life, and making her do things she couldn't remember doing...

His eyes shifted up to Chad's.

Chad averted his eyes when the alpha's met his.

Wondering if that was confirmation enough, Rafael felt the color drain from his face as he tried to remember what he forgotten. He didn't remember dying, but... _had he?_

"Who is it?" Lizzie demanded, slapping the desk and glaring at the human.

Chad refused to say anything else, though he cringed away from the angry blonde.

"It's not anyone in this room, is it?" Rafael asked. He could feel everyone stare at him in surprise. Clearly none of them thought that was a possibility. They didn't know what he knew though.

"No," Chad denied immediately. Was Ted already inside of Rafael? Is that why he asked? To see if he would tell on him?

Rafael felt a bit relieved, but he was still suspicious.

"What does he want with the sand clock, Chad?" Hope asked gently, trying not to scare him even more.

"He...he..." Chad's eyes flickered around, met Rafael's again, and he flinched inwardly. "I don't know."

"I think you do, Chad," Hope said, nodding encouragingly.

"I don't!" he shook his head. "Can I please just go? You know what he wants now. Don't shoot the messenger and all?"

Alaric looked at Hope, nodding toward the door with raised eyebrows. She nodded.

"Keep questioning him," he said to Lizzie, MG, and Rafael. "Hope?"

She got up and followed him outside the office.

"I'm putting him in a cell," he said.

"Okay," she agreed. "But why?"

"Even if he won't give us anything else, we'll have something of the Necromancer's. We already know no one's going to hurt Josie, not if he really wants another sand clock, but having the boy means we have leverage too."

"Except we _don't_ have another sand clock," she said. "We aren't even looking for one. We threw out that plan, they just didn't know because Josie destroyed the eye thing. How are we supposed to ransom her for something we don't even have?"

"I'll figure something out," he said. "Even more of a reason to keep Chad."

"You're assuming he's important to him," she pointed out.

Alaric sighed. "It's all I've got."

"Right," she nodded. "So we're just going to leave her there? For how long? I mean, we know where she is."

"As much as it pains me to say, yes," he said. "We'll get her back, but this guy is dangerous and we don't know what he's up to. She's safer if we let him think we're going to give him what he wants."

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" she asked, frustrated. She already felt like they wasted most of the day, and now she would have to wait even longer?

"Get some rest for tomorrow?" he suggested, hoping he could figure out everything by then. "You and Lizzie are both going to need it."

"It's still early though," she said. She wasn't even tired.

"Prepare then," he said. "We gotta free Josie before she can take care of the Necromancer, so someone's going to have to distract him."

She liked that idea. Plus, she _did_ still need to figure out a way to take care of the sorcerer herself. Josie's power was for Clarke alone. She couldn't let anything else interfere with that.

Alaric returned to his office leaving the door open as the interrogation was over.

She turned to head for the gym and nearly crashed into Landon.

"Hope!" he said, startled.

"...Landon," she said softly. Her heart jumped when she first saw him, then she remembered.

"I'm...here for Rafael," he explained awkwardly, pointing at the office.

"Uh huh."

"But, um," he stuffed his hands in his pant pockets. "Any help you guys need to, you know, find Josie, I'm down...to help."

"If we need someone to fly away," Lizzie, leaving the office, came up to them with a harsh glare, "we'll know who to ask."

Landon frowned, not expecting that reception. He was used to this particular twin calling him random names but he thought they had established some kind of tolerant friendship that didn't include insults anymore.

Even Hope looked up at her with questioning eyes.

"What?" the blonde asked derisively. "We hate him now, right?"

Hope grabbed Lizzie's arm. "Let's just go."

Landon winced as he watched them walk away. He needed to talk with Hope, fix this mess he created.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

Landon turned to see Rafael leading a reluctant Chad out the office door, with Alaric reassuring the prisoner from behind. MG followed them all. "We're just going to keep you for a little while."

"Hey, bro," the wolf said, nodding at him. "I'm on prison duty."

"I'm too pretty for prison," Chad argued, dragging his feet while being pulled away.

"That's what they all say," Alaric retorted.

"I'll check on you later," Landon offered.

"Sounds good," Rafael said.

* * *

"Lizzie, we don't hate him," Hope said once they were far enough away from Landon.

"He broke you though," she said. "Can't I at least hate him a little while?"

"I appreciate you being so...protective," the tribrid said. "It's a new look on you."

"I resent that," Lizzie said. "I'm always very protective of my people."

Hope smiled. Lizzie considered her "my people". They had definitely come a long way since Hope's self-imposed distancing from any societal norms.

"So," the blonde said as she swept the gym doors open. "What're we here for?"

"Your dad thinks I need to prepare to distract The Necromancer until Josie can be freed and take him out," she said.

"But she's not taking him out..." the twin said.

"So, you and me have to figure out a way to do it," Hope finished.

"You really think you're going to take him out with a few roundhouse kicks to the head?" Lizzie looked pointedly at the large sand bag.

"No," she said, disgruntled. "But maybe I can distract him long enough for _you_ to do something?"

"Like what? Throw a unicorn at him in hopes he impales himself on it?"

Hope opened her mouth but stopped at a familiar buzzing.

"What?" Lizzie said, seeing Hope pause.

"Someone else wants to weigh in," she said, pulling out the prism and activating it.

Lizzie contemplated Clarke when he appeared. "Where's your glove? Those knives would probably be enough to take out an evil sorcerer."

"Stop with the Freddy references already," Hope rolled her eyes while Clarke looked perplexed. "Yes, Clarke?"

"You don't have to actually take him out," he said. "Just distract him. Once Josie's free she'll do the spell for me, then we'll all just get out of there."

"Right," the twin said. "Distract the all mighty Necromancer who can teleport at will from noticing we're taking his captive and his mud pile like we have all the time in the world. That makes so much sense."

"Don't suppose you have any unicorns handy?" Clarke asked, referring to her own ridiculous plan.

Hope held up her hands. "Ok! We'll distract him to free Josie _first_. If we have to come back later to help Clarke, that's what we'll do."

Clarke wanted to argue but even he knew trying to do everything at once was a bit too ambitious.

"Throw fire bolts at her," Clarke told Lizzie.

"Hey!" Hope said, hands on her hips.

"She's right," Clarke said, tilting his head to indicate the blonde. "He _can_ teleport. So, whichever direction you think he'll show up, he won't. If you're going to distract him, you can't do it by letting him play with you. You've got to be one step ahead of him, make him concentrate so much on fighting you he doesn't focus on Josie."

Lizzie slapped her hands against the wall and siphoned some magic.

"Don't look at Lizzie at all," Clarke said. "In fact, maybe you should keep your eyes closed. You need to sense the magic, not see it."

"That's impossible," she exclaimed even though she knew it wasn't. She just hadn't practiced it much.

"Kai stopped that stake from killing him with his back towards you," he pointed out. "He didn't see it, he sensed it."

"Be like Kai," she raised an eyebrow. "Right."

He motioned for her to proceed.

"Fine," she sighed.

She walked to the middle of the gym floor, closed her eyes and waited.

Clarke looked at Lizzie expectantly.

She made a face at him before throwing a fire bolt at Hope.

Hope felt the heat and barely moved out of the way in time.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, opening her eyes and holding her arm where the bolt just nearly missed. "How about a little less power behind those, ok? Do you want me alive to do this tomorrow?"

"Sorry, sorry," Lizzie said.

"Again," Clarke insisted.

Hope closed her eyes once more.

Clarke motioned for Lizzie to leave her place and move to a different spot.

"I can hear her walking," Hope said with her eyes still closed.

Lizzie huffed in frustration before casting a silent spell over herself. Then she _silently_ ran to the other side of Hope. She let loose a smaller bolt of fire, from a completely different direction.

"Oww!" Hope cried out when it hit her back and she nearly fell forward.

"You're not focusing," Clarke reprimanded.

"I'm trying!" she swore.

He tapped his head. "No, you're not. I know, remember?"

She flushed. She was still preoccupied with thoughts of Landon after bumping into him earlier. She knew she should be focusing on the task at hand, but she got the feeling he wanted to talk. Maybe he was ready for their 'break' to be over already?

"Deal with your ex later," he said. "We don't have time for that." With any luck, he would have his body back in the next day or so and he wouldn't have to push aside his jealousy every time she slipped into thoughts of his brother.

"Seriously, Hope?" Lizzie was annoyed with her too.

"Okay, okay, I'm ready now, I swear," Hope closed her eyes and waited.

Lizzie moved to another position and let loose with a fire bolt. This one had less power but moved faster since she was frustrated.

" _Subsisto_ ," Hope said as she stopped the bolt in midair. She opened her eyes.

"Now we're talking," Lizzie said.

"Again," Clarke nodded at the witch. "And keep moving and firing. He's not going to stop after one attack."

Lizzie wanted to tell him what he could do with his demands, but as much as she didn't like him, she did as she was told. They had to be prepared. _Hope_ had to be prepared.

Anything to save her sister.

* * *

 _This isn't so bad_ , Chad thought.

There was even a small cot with a blanket and pillow, which was more than he could say for the cold mausoleum he was forced to call home since he arrived in Virginia with _Ted_.

If he knew befriending his new difficult coworker would've led to him dying and becoming an evil sorcerer's puppet, he never would've done it. But, he always tried to make friends. His new friend, Ted, seemed depressed. He listened to his stories and fully supported him in his craziness. Even crazy people needed a friend.

His friendship led to new adventures and even raising the dead. Ted brought a kitty back to life! How incredible was that? The poor kitty had another chance to live now. He thought at the time that Ted was incredible. Unfortunately, Ted hit a standstill. But with Chad's encouragement, he got off his lazy butt and went to work again. They were going to take out Malivore, or at least pee on him because, well, why not?

Instead of getting to unleash his full bladder on his friend's enemy, he ended up being killed at the hand of the very friend he had helped so much.

While he was certainly grateful to be alive again, he didn't like that he had been killed in the first place. That was his first inclination that something wasn't right. He didn't like this, and he kind of wanted to go back home to Texas. His second inclination that he was way in over his head was when Ted set a trap to kill the random guy taking a run through the cemetery. Then all that talk about killing the kids at the school...

That was where he drew the line. He couldn't allow anyone else to die, especially not kids. He tried to kill Ted, something he never thought he would be willing to do. He failed miserably and learned just how much control Ted had over him.

Now, here he was, in another prison guarded by the one person who could embody Ted other than himself. The alpha had kept pretty quiet since they locked him in though.

Chad figured he was in as good a place as any. He could just sit and wait. He didn't have to meet any ridiculous demands, and it wasn't like Ted could use him to do bad things. He was locked up and unable to get out.

In fact, Chad was starting to feel very happy about this situation.

"Chaaad," Rafael stood up from his guard perch and turned to look at him with glowing white eyes.

Well, except for _that_.

* * *

"Enough," Hope panted, bending over and trying to breathe. "Much more and I'll be worthless tomorrow."

"Yeah," Lizzie said, resting against a wall, looking just as worn out. "She's got this. We are _done_."

"Can I crash in yours?" the tribrid asked. "With Alyssa back—"

"Yeah, yeah," Lizzie waved her hand while dragging herself to the gym doors. "Just don't wake me."

Hope nodded even though her friend couldn't see her. She limped to the wall and slid down, relaxing against it.

"There's gotta be a way to get rid of him instead of just distracting him," Clarke remarked, coming over to sit and join her.

"If you think of something, be sure to let me know," she breathed out, resting her head against the wall with her eyes closed.

"If you could just distract him long enough—"

"Hey," she opened her eyes and looked at him. "We'll get your body back, okay?"

He shut his mouth and looked away.

"It may not be tomorrow, but we'll get it done. _I'll_ get it done," she promised. "No matter what."

He gave a brief nod, the only indication he heard her.

"And you'll finally get to be alone with your own thoughts and have your own dreams again," she laughed. "Can't tell you how much _I'm_ looking forward to it."

"I don't dream," he said.

"You mean, ever?" she asked, surprised.

"I don't have to sleep either," he explained. "I do sometimes to turn off the thoughts and pass the time, but I don't have to. And I never dream when I do."

"Oh."

"It's...been interesting," he said, thinking over everything he ever read about the human dreamscape that had escaped him for so long. "You don't have control over them, and yet you do. They're your memories and experiences, hopes and fears. According to Freud, your dreams reveal your repressed wishes but if that's true, why show your fears? Why revisit that moment when you had to decide who to save? You chose the Saltzmans. Did you have a repressed wish to choose Landon instead?"

"Even if I did, it always would've been the Saltzmans," she said. "Always. No matter how much I wanted to save him, I would have always picked the Saltzmans."

"Why?" he wondered. He had tried to figure out her decision since she made it.

"They're family," she explained. "Family is always and forever."

"That...hasn't been my experience with family," he said.

"You haven't had a real family," she said. "Family protects each other no matter what, even if they don't agree, even when they hate each other. Family would lay down their lives for each other, accept them no matter their faults, and they would do it always. And forever. That's what a family is. And that's why I would always pick the Saltzmans."

"Must be nice."

"It...is."

* * *

Rafael grinned eerily, taking in the prison bars.

"What have you done now, Chad?" he asked.

"N-nothing!" Chad got to his feet quickly. "I did what you asked but they were out looking for her already. When they found me, they wouldn't let me go."

"What have you told them?" he demanded to know.

"Just that you want the misery momentum thing," Chad insisted. "That you'd give back the girl if they gave that to you. They're trying to find one. They said they'll give it to you when they do."

"Did you tell them why I wanted it?"

"No," Chad shook his head emphatically. "I told them I don't know."

"Are you telling the truth?" he looked at him suspiciously.

"Yes," he nodded vigorously. "You can do that thing where you make me tell you the truth. You'll see."

Rafael looked at him, considering.

"Are you going to let me out?" Chad asked even though he didn't really want to go.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I assume," Rafael indicated himself, "the alpha is your guard?"

"Yeah."

"If I were to let you out, that would give away the identity of my other acolyte..." he eyed Chad. "You haven't told them, have you?"

Chad shook his head in denial. "No! No one has any idea."

"Good."

"Is...how is the girl?" Chad knew he wouldn't hurt her; but, since she was still being held as a prisoner, Ted might not be taking care of her properly.

"Annoying and cranky," Rafael looked heavenward. "I've still yet to see the real power."

"Maybe she got rid of the black magic before you kidnapped her?" Chad suggested.

"Shut your mouth," he commanded.

Chad immediately clamped his lips closed, unable to open them even to breathe. Fortunately, he could still breathe through his nose.

"It's there," Rafael said. "I know it is. And once we get that mora miserium, the magic will be mine!"

Chad nodded, unable to speak to agree.

"I should leave you like that," he said. "But they'd know I got here somehow. Pity." He sighed and released Chad from his command.

Chad opened his mouth, breathing with relief.

"You've done well, Chad, keeping your mouth shut."

"Th-thank you," he stuttered.

"Make sure you keep it that way," he glared.

Chad nodded with wide eyes.

Ted in Rafael's body walked back over to the perch the wolf was sitting on when he took over the alpha's body.

Chad breathed a sigh of relief when Rafael assumed ownership of his body once more and glanced over at Chad.

"Do you need something?" he asked, noticing the prisoner was on his feet and close to the bars.

"No..." Chad shrank back, sitting on the cot once again.

"Nothing at all."

* * *

She moaned.

Fully clothed in a sweater, tights, and a plaid skirt that was currently bunched up around her waist, she lay back on her bed, head tossed against the pillow and moaning at the ceiling as he kissed the skin across her stomach. Her sweater was inching its way up with each kiss.

With every brush of his lips, he was sliding up her body too, the movement allowing him to settle more fully between her thighs.

She slid her stocking clad leg up the side of his, relishing in the heat she felt radiating through their clothing.

When the sweater became an obstacle, he paused to grasp the edge and pulled. She grasped it too, wanting to help. She pulled from the bottom up, getting lost in the material as she tugged. She cleared her head, but it was still caught on her arms, effectively binding her.

He resumed his kisses, his lips traveling to the flesh spilling out the top of her bra. She lost track of her movements, arms still above her head, trapped and uncaring, as she paused to groan at the intense pleasure.

He pulled back as he slid his hands around her sides, searching for the clasp at the back of her bra.

Moaning in a fog, she lifted up to help him, eyes opening when she remembered her arms were still trapped in the sweater.

Then she saw him.

"C-Clarke?" she asked with some alarm. "What—"

He found the clasp and dipped his head back down to continue exploring with his lips while he worked at unhooking it.

She breathed out, trying to think. _What_ _was... why was..._

"What are you doing?" she finally tried to jerk away before he could get the clasp undone.

He held back, frowning.

She struggled with the sweater now, trying to get free.

Belatedly, she realized she should probably pull it back down but instead she released her arms and tossed it to the side before she grabbed him and flipped them over.

Sprawled on top of him, she grabbed his arms and forced them down against the bed.

"This is _not_ okay! Why would you do this?"

She heard someone clear their throat. She looked up toward the bedroom door.

" _That_ is all you, not me," the real Clarke said, the surprised smirk on his face telling her everything she needed to know.

This was _her_ dream.

Her mouth dropped open.

"I do prefer my first name during copulation though," he said, eyes darkening with something she didn't even want to name. "Ryan, for future reference."

She roused forcefully, struggling to make herself awaken.

She finally opened her eyes and nearly screamed in mortification.

 _Oh my God_.


	10. Rise And Shine, Pinocchio!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"Can you not?"

Hope had scrambled out of Josie's bed and was now standing in the middle of the twins' room, arms clamped tightly around herself, resisting the urge to scream and wake the entire floor. She had to hold her arms down or she would start flailing her hands again and freaking out. _Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!_

Lizzie turned over in bed, facing away from her. "If you're going to have sex dreams about Landon, can you do it in your _own_ room?" She flounced her pillow and tried to go back to sleep.

 _It wasn't about_ _Landon_ _,_ she wanted to yell at her, but how could she? She didn't want _anyone_ to ever know about that dream, especially the one person who actually _knew_ about it.

 _IT MEANT NOTHING!_ she screamed at him in her mind. _People have dreams all the time that make no sense! I once had a dream that I was a gummy bear. That doesn't mean I have a secret desire to_ be _a gummy bear, just like I don't have some secret desire to be with_ YOU _! I could_ NEVER _want to be with_ YOU _!_

She had to breathe. She needed to calm down. She felt like she was a heartbeat away from hyperventilating. This was the kind of dream that on a normal night would make her laugh because it was so ridiculous. She would shake it off and go back to sleep. But how could she do that when _he_ was there? When he _witnessed_ it? When he was most definitely making assumptions—the _wrong_ ones—about her feelings about him? She saw that look on his face. Did that mean that _he_... _oh my God._

 _We're_ FRIENDS, she thought loudly, directing her thoughts to him again as if he couldn't already read them all. _That's all we will_ ever _be. I don't have any other feelings for you, you've been in my mind long enough to know that. It's only ever been Landon for me, and that's all it's ever going to be._

She breathed. There. He couldn't refute any of that. She knew what was in her mind. And he knew it too. She wasn't lying.

But there was no way in hell she was going back to sleep.

She needed to get him out of her head, and she needed to do it _now_.

* * *

Lizzie sighed.

It was no use; she couldn't get back to sleep. That she could sleep to begin with had been a feat of epic proportions. She was too worried about Josie.

Her sister was imprisoned in some creepy cemetery waiting for the cavalry to arrive and save her. Though, knowing her sister, she was trying everything she could to break free. She didn't understand why the dark magic in Josie hadn't risen up and broken her out already. Surely her darker half didn't appreciate being imprisoned.

There was something they didn't know. She bet that human, _Chad_ , knew something he wasn't saying.

It should be easy to get a human to talk. Honestly, her father could've been a bit more persuasive. They were a school of supernaturals, for crying out loud. Scare him a little!

 _You know what_ , she thought. _What Daddy doesn't know won't hurt him._

She pushed the rest of her sleepiness away along with her covers and sat up.

"Hope...what...are you doing?"

Hope was still standing in the middle of the room, looking incredibly confused about life.

"I'm... standing here," she said.

"Right..." Lizzie shook her head. "Let's go interrogate the prisoner."

Hope didn't need to be told twice. "Alright!"

* * *

Try as he might, Rafael still couldn't remember anything. Not about dying, and not anything that had happened since he left his father to return to school.

Figuring guard duty would be a good way for him to think without any distractions, he still came up empty. Nothing in his mind would explain why his feet were covered in dirt and the door was unlocked. Maybe he had taken up sleepwalking? He wondered if many werewolves sleepwalked. Maybe that was something they forgot to teach him. He _had_ missed a lot of class lately. He would have to do some research.

Still, he wondered about Josie coming up missing. Why wouldn't the prisoner have told everyone it was him when Rafael gave him a chance to? He asked outright, and the guy seemed desperate enough to tell the truth when pressed.

He really hoped he hadn't forgotten dying. But, more than that, he really hoped it wasn't his fault Josie was taken.

Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs and towards him, he smiled.

"Hey bro—" he stopped when they turned the corner. "Oh sorry, I thought you guys were Landon." He was supposed to stop by with breakfast and give him a chance for a bathroom break.

"Ew, no," Lizzie said. "We're here to interrogate the prisoner." Whom she saw was sleeping comfortably on his tiny cot. She would have to do something about that.

Hope nodded, giving Rafael a gentle sheepish smile. "Have you been here all night?"

"No, Kaleb spelled me for a while," he said, returning her smile with a soft one of his own. "He was disappointed we didn't wait for him to get back so he could be in on the meeting." The vampires had returned to the school much later than the werewolves from searching for Josie. MG was nearby so he was the upper class vampire able to attend the meeting.

"I'm sure MG filled him in," Lizzie said.

He nodded at the twin. "You know, you really should lay off Landon a little. He knows he screwed up. He's going to fix it."

"He said that?" Hope asked with a glimmer of hope in her voice.

"Yeah," he didn't feel any qualms about revealing any of this. Landon needed all the help he could get. "He only did it because he was trying to protect you."

"Oh, gee, Frodo to the rescue," the blonde said sarcastically. "Break her heart and call it protecting her. From what? Certainly not the giant sledgehammer he hit her over the head with."

"From Clarke," he said. "Bring him back and he's just gonna make us all regret it, _especially_ Hope."

"Oh for the love of Legolas, I hate the guy as much as the next person, but even _I_ know he wouldn't hurt her," Lizzie exclaimed. She had seen too much of the way Clarke was around Hope to ever think he would do that. She didn't know why he came after her before but she would bet her entire blazer collection that he wouldn't hurt her now.

Rafael raised an eyebrow at her. "How could you possibly know that? Especially since he's already tried to?"

"Because I've see—"

"Because she _listened_ to her friend and believes her when she says _he won't hurt anyone_ ," Hope interrupted before Lizzie could reveal that she had seen Clarke. She also wasn't sure what was about to come out of her friend's mouth and she preferred to be ahead of it.

"Hey, I'm your friend, and I want to believe you but..." Rafael said. "I don't trust him. And you know Landon doesn't either."

"Yeah, yeah," Lizzie said impatiently. "Tell us something we don't know. Okay, enough talk about the Hobbit. We came here for a reason. Why don't you go have breakfast? It's our turn."

"As you wish," Rafael said, sweeping his arm out in a grand welcoming gesture. He didn't mind, at least now he could research sleepwalking.

"Get some rest, Raf," Hope said with caring concern.

"I will," he returned her smile. He hated himself a little for enjoying her direct attention so much. Here he was helping her and Landon get back together and he still couldn't escape his feelings for her.

"That was sweet," Lizzie said after the wolf left.

"What?" Hope asked.

"You and Raf," the blonde said with a laugh. "He's so into you."

Hope winced. "Don't remind me."

"Just remember who had him first."

The tribrid rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter, I only want Landon."

"Are there any guys here not into you?"

"MG?" Hope said with a wink.

"Stop," Lizzie said while approaching the prison bars. "He's a great friend."

"Have you ever _tried_ to see him differently?"

"He's just...not my type."

"If you say so."

"I do," the blonde said, suddenly ready for this conversation to be over. She rattled the prison bars, "Rise and shine, Pinocchio!"

She saw the figure on the cot jump. "That's it! I know you're lying! We're here to get some answers out of you, and if you lie, your nose will grow!"

Hope whispered behind her hand, "You can do that?"

Lizzie whispered back, "Well, no...but he doesn't know that."

"How about I cast a truth spell, just to be on the safe side?" Hope whispered again.

"That works too," Lizzie shrugged.

Chad felt for his nose as he scrambled to his feet. At least it was still there for now.

" _Veritus tempus_ ," Hope quickly cast.

"Why does the almighty Necromancer want a sand clock?" Lizzie asked.

Chad felt a pull to answer, just like he felt a pull not to answer. He felt like his insides were about to be wrenched apart. _What were they doing to him?_

They watched his face turn red, like he was struggling desperately.

"His nose isn't really going to grow, is it?" Lizzie whispered.

"No..." Hope was confused. "It's like he wants to tell us the truth, but he can't. Something is stopping him."

"Stop the spell!" Lizzie said. "He looks like he's about to explode!"

" _Stativa_."

Chad relaxed and checked his face to make sure all the parts were still there.

"Ow, that hurt!" he accused. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Hope denied. "Just tried to make sure you were telling the truth."

"Well, don't _do_ that!" he insisted.

"Something's going on here," Hope said as an aside to Lizzie. "There's some other spell on him, one that's blocking mine."

"The Necromancer," Lizzie said.

"Yeah," Hope nodded. "He must've done a spell to make sure he didn't tell us anything. Crap."

"But the spell is just on his physical self, right?" Lizzie asked.

"What are you thinking?"

"Maybe if we can project his consciousness outside of his body, we can get the answers we need?"

"It's possible," Hope said thoughtfully. "But one of us would have to do it for him, so only one of us could ask questions."

"Unless...if you do the projection, Clarke and I could do the questioning. And Clarke can hear any questions in your head so you could still ask," Lizzie suggested.

"No," Hope said quickly. Too quickly. She stepped back and looked down, pretending to kick something off her shoe.

"I agree," Chad said, butting into the conversation. "I like my consciousness just fine where it's at."

"It's a great idea!" Lizzie exclaimed, ignoring the prisoner. "What's wrong with it?"

"We don't need him to help," the shorter girl said. "I'll do the projection and you ask."

"I'm a high school junior. His actual career was working as an operative for a secret government agency that included interrogating people for a living." Lizzie brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Clearly, I'm the one more qualified," she deadpanned.

"Then you do the projection and I'll ask," Hope insisted.

"What's going on here? You've never had a problem with Clarke helping us," Lizzie was confused. "Why now?"

Hope wouldn't look at her. "I just don't think—"

"Spill!" the blonde demanded.

"I'm not talking to him right now," Hope said, feeling her face flush.

"Are you blushing?" she questioned. "What is— _oh_...Your sex dream. He saw that, didn't he?"

"I don't want to talk about this," Hope said, face flaming now. "I'm going to do the spell." She marched up to the cell and undid the lock.

"Hope, we need him," Lizzie tried again. "He's a _guy_ , I'm sure it's something he's used to. Just bring him here, rip the band-aid off, and get it over with. He's probably just as traumatized as you are what with seeing you with his brother."

Hope closed the cell gate, locking herself in with the prisoner, and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

Chad backed away. "You just stay over there."

"Lizzie, come on," Hope pleaded.

She eyed her. "Why are you making such a big deal about this? It's what he gets for rooting around in someone else's dreams."

"Lizzie!"

"Fine," Lizzie grumbled. "I swear, you're acting like the dream was about him."

Hope went suspiciously quiet. She brushed imaginary lint off her shirt.

Lizzie's eyes widened. " _Oh my God!_ That's it, isn't it?"

"Are we going to do the spell or not?" Hope asked, eyes beseeching her to let it go.

"Not," Chad answered for them.

"So you're just going to ignore him until you get him out of your head?"

"Yep," Hope answered, her chin held up stubbornly.

"And what about sleep? Are you ever going to sleep again?"

"Not until he's gone!" Hope declared.

"You realize you're being completely unreasonable?"

"Probably," she said, deflating. "But what else can I do?"

"Hope," Lizzie implored her. "So you had a sex dream about Clarke, it's hardly—"

She stopped because Hope was now staring in dismay at some spot over her shoulder. Her friend looked decidedly pale. Lizzie turned around and her stomach plummeted _for_ Hope.

"Um..." Landon put down the tray he brought for Rafael who was supposed to be on guard duty. He slowly backed away, as if doing so would slow the words he heard from reaching his brain. "I'm just gonna...go."

Hope saw the hard look in his eyes. Any and all light had gone out. He never looked at her so coldly before, not even when he found out she knew about his mother and hadn't told him. "Landon..."

He held up a hand, indicating she should stop talking to him. He kept it raised as he left as quietly as he arrived.

She grabbed at the bars, wanting to run after him but knew he was in no condition to listen to her.

"Worst timing in the world, I swear," Lizzie grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

For the second time that day, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Hope pressed her forehead against the cold metal and tried to remember how.

Lizzie siphoned magic from the wall.

"Okay, _you_ ," Lizzie pointed at Chad. "Take a nap." She waved her hand at him and he crumbled to the floor in a deep sleep.

" _You_ ," she pointed at Hope. "Get Clarke here and _deal with that_. We need him, whether you believe it or not...

"I'm going to get the supplies you know you need to astral project but were going to try to do without anyway," she rolled her eyes. "And if I can track down Frodo, I'll attempt some damage control."

She waited for Hope to make some movement to follow her commands. " _Hope_?"

Hope nodded woodenly. "I'll do it."

"Good."

* * *

He, regrettably, missed the actual visualization of the beginning of Hope's dream. Upon hearing her moans coming from one of the doors in the hallway, he decided he didn't want to witness a repeat of Hope's dream from when she fell asleep in class. She could go kiss on Landon all she wanted while he wondered elsewhere. He didn't need  _that_ visual.

When he heard _his_ name though, he came right back and what he walked in on was the last thing he expected to see. Was it reasonable to be jealous of ones' self?

She was on that bed with _him_ , a dream version she created all by herself.

From what he could tell, Dream Clarke had pushed her skirt up, pulled her sweater off, and was well on his way to freeing her breasts before she shut it down.

Dream Clarke appeared to be much more advanced in his bed play than the pitiful Dream Landon of dreams past. Curious, both of the dreams were hers but Landon got the 'hand-holding PG' treatment while he was well on the way to 'NC-17'.

Unsurprisingly, she didn't take it well. She was completely mortified, hollering at him before trying to reason with him. If she bothered talking to him about it, he would've shut her down on all accounts.

Hadn't they _just_ had a conversation about dreams being repressed wishes? He fully supported Freud's theory now and not just because he wanted it to be true.

Even after everything she shouted at him in her brain, she couldn't stop thinking about it. He didn't get to watch the beginning of that dream while it was happening but he saw it in her mind's eye repeatedly all because _she_ couldn't stop going back to it. She would catch herself and quickly try to think about something else, but there was no escaping it.

The dream affected her more than she wanted to admit, even to herself. The frustration was physical too. Standing in the middle of that bedroom floor, she tried to press her legs together to alleviate the pressure between them, but it didn't help. There was really only one way to help her there, and he needed a body to do it.

Eventually she would have to acknowledge him. She could try to ignore him all she wanted, but it was a given that eventually she would have to sleep. He waited patiently during the girls' entire conversation for her friend to finally talk some sense into her. They _did_ need him.

It was unfortunate—for her—that his bumbling idiot of a brother walked in at the worst possible moment, but he had no qualms about basking in the knowledge that for once the perfect son was jealous of _him_.

Thankfully, the twin was impatient to do anything to help her sister, so she lit the fire under Hope's rear end to get her to finally stop this nonsense and _talk_ to him.

With baited breath, he watched her retrieve the prism.

She activated the prism, undid the latch on the prison door, slipped through and slammed it shut as quickly as possible.

She turned to face him, holding her breath, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.

He leaned against the cell bars and grinned at her, "Well, this brings back memories."

She gave a weak smile at that.

"Are you really not going to talk to me?" he asked, trying to pout but the grin ruined the effect. "Aren't we friends?"

She sighed. "We are."

"Then talk to me," he said. "That's what friends do, right?"

"Will you help with the interrogation?" she asked.

"Not what I was expecting," he said. "But yes."

"Good," she gave a perfunctory nod.

He had to shake his head. She was stubborn, that's for sure.

"The dream—" he started.

"Meant _nothing_ ," she reiterated her words from earlier.

"So you _say_ ," he said, staring her down. She could say anything she wanted, but he knew exactly what was going on in her head. She knew it was more than 'nothing' otherwise she wouldn't feel so guilty about it when it came to Landon.

"I love Landon," she stressed the words. "I only want to _be_ with _Landon_."

Frustrated—and maybe a little hurt—he responded in kind, "Then why have you spent all morning remembering how it felt to have _me_ lying between your legs?"

She flinched back, and then he felt it.

_Fear._

Amazed, he stepped away from the bars. She was actually _afraid_ of him. She was never afraid of anyone or anything. Not even when he was fighting her did she ever show fear. She just dove right in, did what had to be done and moved on. She was never afraid. So why was it that _now..._

Staring at her, he realized the entire time with Landon had been an innocent love, shown clearly in how she fantasized about simple kisses and holding hands because it was her first time experiencing any of it. She was taking things mind numbingly slow because that's the pace she felt comfortable at.

With him, in the dream last night, she took it much further than she ever had before. She wasn't ready for the intensity of feelings, didn't even know where it came from. It scared her. She was too innocent. That's why she didn't try to take care of her earlier problem by herself. He knew she _had_ desired him, but the passion and desire were too much for her. No matter how good it felt, it had frightened her. She needed time. If he pushed this, pushed her, he would lose any chance he might have ever had with her—and he was beginning to think he actually _might_ have a chance.

It would take time though. She could face darkness and eat it for breakfast but intimacy really _wasn't_ her strong suit.

"I shouldn't have said that," he backtracked.

She eyed him warily. Since when did he apologize?

"I was...jealous," he admitted. It's not like he hadn't admitted that before, just for an entirely different reason. "I know you're already spoken for."

"So you understand..." she trailed off. She knew now, at least, that he actually wanted her as more than a friend. She just needed him to understand that the dream didn't mean she returned his feelings. She desperately wanted to put this entire thing behind them. He just had to let it go then everything could go back to normal.

"The dream was just your mind playing tricks on you. I won't mention it again," he promised, reading her thoughts. And he wouldn't mention it again, at least not any time soon, but he most definitely would never forget.

"Friends?" he asked, biting his bottom lip and smiling hopefully.

"Friends..." she said hesitantly.

"Great," he said. "Let's hope the blonde gets back soon." _And that she doesn't get the chance to fix anything with Landon_.

"Her name is Lizzie, you know," she said.

"I hear my name," the blonde in question said as she swept into the room. She handed the bag of supplies to Hope. "Guess that means everything is better here?"

She looked between Hope and Clarke, who both nodded.

"And Landon?" Hope asked softly for Lizzie's ears only even though Clarke knew her every action.

"He flew the coop," the twin shook her head. "Hard to track a bird down when they're in flight."

Hope nodded with a dejected sigh and went to prepare the spell.


	11. Hey, Don't I Know You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

" _Voye à sa fille._ "

Hope focused, eyes closed while holding Chad's hands.

"Whoa, this is cool!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes at the newly manifested version of the human.

Chad walked over to where his actual body stood in front of the tribrid. "So trippy."

"It's not a picnic in the park, you're our prisoner and we're here to interrogate you," Lizzie glared at him.

"Right, right," Chad shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

"Why does the Necromancer want the sand clock?" Clarke asked.

"Because he needs a way to get the black magic out of the twin so he can have it for himself."

 _What? No,_ Hope thought. They needed that magic for Clarke. Why did he need more anyway?

"Why does he need more black magic?" Clarke asked. "What are his plans?"

"Something about things being different now than they were years ago?" Chad squinted, trying to remember. "He wants to build his magic back up as quickly as possible because of that."

"Different how?" Lizzie asked.

"I don't know, he just always says things aren't the same as they were when he first got stuck in Malivore," Chad replied.

 _The Battle of Normandy,_ Hope thought. _That's where he was when he got stuck_.

"1944?" Clarke asked, looking over at her. "So something's changed since then?" He looked back at Chad.

"Maybe it has something to do with the," Lizzie made a gagging sound, "corpses he's been keeping?"

"Oh, he plans on raising them from the dead," Chad said.

"Why hasn't he yet?" Clarke asked.

"Not enough power," Chad said, "Obviously."

 _The Other Side..._ Hope realized.

"What's the Other Side?" Clarke asked her.

"Oh, I know!" Lizzie raised a hand. "A witch named Qetsiyah created the 'Other Side' two thousand years ago so when any supernatural being died they were stuck in limbo, not passing on and unable to interact with anyone else on that plane."

She continued, "Aunt Bonnie became the anchor so everyone who died had to pass through her, but The Travelers overwhelmed her and caused the destruction of said limbo. The only way the spirits could think to save her was to send her to another dimension, or rather the prison world holding my dear Uncle Kai. Of course after that all other supernaturals either found peace or went to purgatory."

"A few years later, Aunt Bonnie performed a spell to protect the town from hellfire. My stepfather died in that fire, but he put an end to purgatory itself," she finished.

"So with the 'other side' gone..." Clarke said.

 _He can raise_ all _supernaturals..._

Clarke frowned at her, deep in thought.

"I can't hear her, so all I'm getting are cut off sentences and frowns," Lizzie reminded him.

"He's able to raise all supernaturals now," he explained.

"Whereas he couldn't before because raising a supernatural would've required raising the veil, and only the anchor could do that," Lizzie said. "I think."

"Why does he want to raise the supernaturals?" he asked Chad.

"Why not?" Chad shrugged. "He's always talking about having power and stuff. Whenever a new creature came through the portal he always offered them..." he raised his fingers in air quotes, "'freedom from death'. I guess he made a deal with them that they thought sounded like a better deal than what Malivore was offering."

"You've gotten awfully chatty," Lizzie noted. "We didn't even put a truth spell on you."

"He told me to make sure to keep my mouth shut, I guess that was a command and not just him talking since you guys nearly blew up my head," Chad winced, remembering.

"He can control you?" Clarke asked.

Chad nodded. "I didn't know until I tried to kill him once. He was sleeping and I tried to put a knife through his chest."

 _How can he control him?_ Hope thought. They would all have to be careful if this guy could control any of them at any given time.

"What gives him control over you?" Clarke asked.

"Oh yeah," Chad chuckled scornfully. "He killed me."

"He did what?" Lizzie asked, suddenly even more scared of what could befall her twin.

"Then he brought me back to life," Chad continued. "Just like it was nothing. Apparently since I was his only friend, I satisfied some sacrifice. He said he wouldn't have been able to bring me back if he hadn't killed me. _I_ say he wouldn't have had to bring me back to life at all if he hadn't killed me in the first place."

_He can control the ones he raises..._

"Tell me something," Clarke said. "How does he think he's going to get the black magic out of the girl? I doubt she'd just give it up."

"He's working to get enough power to raise the girl's uncle. Command him to siphon it out of her for him. As of yesterday, he hadn't been able to raise him though."

_He has Kai's body too?!_

Lizzie swore. She was the only one who hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Kai Parker and she definitely never wanted to.

"Why even ask for the mora miserium then?" Clarke asked. "Couldn't Kai just transfer the power without the sand clock?"

"I don't know, that's just what he told me," he said.

Hope tried to think while maintaining the spell. It seemed as though the sorcerer wasn't concerned about Kai taking the power from Josie, but he _was_ concerned about Kai attempting to transfer it to him. Maybe because with that much power, Kai would simply be able to siphon even more _from_ the Necromancer and overcome the link that was created when he was raised from the dead.

"How did you turds get your hands on my sister?" Lizzie asked. "Who's the other spy?"

At this, Chad went silent for the first time.

"Cat got your tongue?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow.

"You know who the other spy is, don't you?" Clarke asked.

Chad nodded reluctantly.

"Why don't you want to tell us?" he asked.

Chad shook his head. "It doesn't matter; he doesn't know what he's doing. Ted is taking him over each time."

"Ted?" Clarke questioned.

"It's what I call The Necromancer in my head. He lost all his powers after Malivore set him free. That's how I met him, as Ted, my coworker at the ice cream shop. He hates being called that."

"Stop trying to change the subject," Lizzie said. "Why—"

She cut off when Clarke looked at her and shook his head. _Right_. He was in charge of this interrogation.

She swept her hand out for him to proceed.

"So, _Ted_ ," Clarke stressed, "is controlling whoever this spy is. The spy doesn't know what's happening to him?" At least they knew the spy was a male.

"Ted takes him over instead of just controlling him. He only uses him when he needs to. He doesn't want to give himself away—to the spy or to anyone at the school."

"Why won't you tell us who the spy is?" Clarke asked again.

Chad shuffled awkwardly.

"Curious," Clarke said, going silent and staring at Chad until he grew uncomfortable.

"What?" Chad asked when he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"It's almost like you're trying to protect someone. Why else would you keep information from us when you've told us everything else?" Clarke asked.

"I..I..I'm not protecting anyone," Chad disagreed.

"I don't think it's the spy you're trying to protect," Clarke continued, ignoring his words. "I think you're trying to protect yourself."

Chad went silent.

"What did you do, Chad?" Clarke asked, piercing his eyes with a deep probing stare.

"I killed him, okay?!" Chad rubbed at his own eyes, burning with unshed tears. "I didn't want to, but Ted forced me to do it, I had no control over myself."

"Who did you kill, Chad?" Clarke asked.

"If I tell you, Ted won't need him anymore," Chad said. "Not if he knows you know."

_Ted will kill the spy for real. We can't let that happen. Who is it?_

"We won't give anything away," Clarke glanced at Lizzie for confirmation. He already knew Hope would keep quiet. The blonde nodded.

Chad looked at Clarke who was giving him a reassuring look.

"We can't protect him if you don't tell us who it is," Clarke pushed just a little more.

"It's the alpha," Chad revealed. "The wolf."

Hope gasped and nearly dropped the spell completely.

 _Rafael?!_ Tears blurred her vision.

Lizzie turned away, putting her fist to her mouth.

"He doesn't know he died," Chad said, emotion choking him. "I didn't want to kill him. I didn't want _anyone_ to die. I tried to kill Ted. I _don't_ kill people and he wanted to kill _kids_. He was talking about killing the tribrid," he looked at Hope, "and all her friends," he looked at Lizzie. "I had to do _something!_ "

He looked back at Clarke, "And then he made it so I couldn't do anything. If I could make this all stop, I would. I don't care what it takes to get rid of him. He can kill me again for all I care, I just don't want him to hurt anyone else and I don't want him to make _me_ hurt anyone else again."

Clarke looked at Hope. She was shaking. She was holding onto the spell, but she needed a break. "Why don't we take a break and—"

 _No!_ she thought. _I can do this. We need to figure out a way to get rid of Ted, we can't just distract him. We can't let Rafael die for real._

Sighing, Clarke racked his brain for a solution.

"What did she say," Lizzie mumbled morosely.

"We need to take the Necromancer out," Clarke said.

"But how?" Lizzie asked.

"I wish he'd just go back wherever he came from," Chad said.

Hope swung her head to stare at him in realization.

Chad faded out for a second and clutched at her hands.

She swung forward and regained focus, projecting him out once again.

_Send him back from where he came..._

Clarke straightened. "That could work, but how..."

 _He said he didn't care what it took..._ she thought with extreme reluctance, but she didn't see any other choice. She couldn't let Rafael die.

Clarke nodded. They would follow her plan. It was one of the most diabolical plans she had ever come up with.

He couldn't help but think her father would be proud.

* * *

"We've got what we need," Hope said with Lizzie standing next to her.

Alaric put down his phone when he saw both girls standing there with grave expressions, two backpacks, and Chad.

"I can't get a hold of my contact in Istanbul but I think they may have one," he said.

Lizzie pulled her backpack around and unzipped it pulling out a mora miserium, the exact replica of the one Clarke had originally used on Josie.

"Where'd you get that?" he stood up slowly.

"Magic," Lizzie said. "It's a bowling pin. We put a glamour on it."

"Won't he notice that?" he asked.

"He won't get the chance," Hope said.

"We're going to the cemetery," Lizzie said.

"Now," Hope said firmly.

"Okay, but do you have the—"

"We have all we need," Lizzie said.

"Are you girls okay?" If Alaric didn't know better, he would think someone had died.

"We're fine," Hope said. She went to his secret weapons stash and pulled out a crossbow, tossing it to him.

Lizzie grabbed a set of hand cuffs and used them on a surprisingly willing Chad.

"Get the guys, it's time to go," Hope said.

Alaric tried to ask her more questions but she was already on the way out of his office, Lizzie and Chad following right behind.

"What's the rush?" he called after them.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Alaric asked.

They were stalking through the woods in the daylight. They were halfway to the cemetery and no one really knew what the girls were up to. They just all followed on blind faith.

"Lizzie, Chad, and I are going to make our way to the tall mausoleum with stained glass windows," Hope explained. "We'll take care of the Necromancer and Josie. Something tells me the rest of you will have some company of the undead kind. Keep them away from us."

"Zombies?" he asked, struggling to keep up with the girls' fast stride.

"Worse," she said. "He's been bringing supernaturals back to life. I think it's only the ones he consecrates in the cemetery though. The Sphinx isn't the problem."

"Sphinx?"

"The problem is Pothos or Kai," she said. "Here's some devil's ivy just in case." She handed a small bag to him.

"Wait," Alaric stopped. " _Kai?_ "

She motioned for him to keep walking. "We don't know if he was able to raise him yet. And he may have just raised the ghost and not the body. He _is_ trying to consecrate them so we could just be dealing with spirits until they can fully manifest."

"And you said you guys are ready to deal with this?"

"Trust us, Daddy," Lizzie said. "We got this."

"I'm sure you do, princess," he assured. He suddenly wished he brought his sword.

He saw Hope glance at her watch. _Wait, watch?_ Since when did she wear a watch? Maybe there _was_ a rush on something.

Hope glanced back and took in the rest of the crew: MG, Kaleb, Jed, and Rafael. She knew she should warn Doctor Saltzman that there might be a third problem, but she couldn't give Rafael away. She had to make sure he came along because there was no way she could leave him behind without alerting Ted. She also needed him close by to confirm he was still alive when this was all over. She put a couple werewolf cures in Lizzie's backpack just in case. Her own backpack held Clarke's clothes.

If all went according to plan they would take care of The Necromancer, get the dark magic out of Josie, get Clarke his body back, and save Rafael's life.

No pressure.

* * *

"It appears your ransom is finally being delivered," the Necromancer said, staring into the magical pot he set up to view the cemetery in anticipation of his guests' arrival.

"That's great," Josie grumbled, standing up. "Took them long enough." She wasn't really upset with them; she was just tired, hungry, and felt totally gross. She was also bored out of her mind. Listening to this guy going on and on about the good ole days was enough to make her want to poke an eye out. He _really_ loved to hear himself talk.

"Pity I haven't gotten to meet the darkness yet," he sighed in regret.

"Maybe it's just not there," she said for about the thousandth time.

"It is," he nodded. "But something tells me she's not coming out until faced with the danger that's ahead."

"There is no danger," Josie said. "They give you the sand clock, I transfer the dark magic you _say_ exists into it, and then we all go about our lives."

"She won't see it that way," he said. "She hasn't made an attempt to escape, but she will."

"If she takes over, how am I supposed to put the magic in the sand clock?" Was this guy for real? His plans were the worst, and she _still_ thought he forgot to leave a ransom note— not that he meant to send it later like he said he did.

"You'll just have to fight her, I suppose," he said with one of his creepy grins.

Josie threw her hands in the air. "How am I supposed to fight something I can't even see?"

"You'll figure it out, and quickly," he indicated the vision bowl.

She stepped closer to get a better view.

"You never met this charming god," he showed the image of Pothos. "He finds hearts pumping with love so delicious!" He laughed. "And I have a few more surprises up my sleeve, all lying in waiting for them." He showed a visual of the group coming for her, Hope and Lizzie at the front.

"Don't hurt them," Josie insisted. "I told you I'll give you your stupid magic."

"This is just incentive for you to fight the darkness," he declared. "I'll call off my acolytes just as soon as the magic is mine!"

 _Get a load of this guy. I'd love to turn him into a toad and step on him—after taking his power for myself, of course. Does he really think_ she _can fight me? She's nothing compared to me. My patience is wearing thin. While he was waiting for them to bring the mora miserium to him, I was waiting for them to bring it to me. I was exactly where I needed to be, close to him. I won't reveal myself until there's nothing he can do to stop it._

* * *

"It's quiet," Hope said. She wasn't sure how this was going to go down. She figured they would start by bringing the 'ransom' to the mausoleum.

"Too quiet," Alaric confirmed.

"We'll head in, you guys keep your eyes open for anything," Hope said. "Maybe it'll be a simple exchange?" She said it for his benefit. She knew nothing was going to be simple about this.

"Signal if you need help," he said.

"Will do."

Hope walked quickly to the entrance, glancing around the entire way, with Lizzie behind her tugging their 'prisoner' along.

Entering the cold place that stank of death, she was relieved to see Josie standing completely unharmed but trapped in a sacred circle. She shushed Josie before she could say anything and walked around, getting the lay of the land. She found the pit easily enough. She dropped her backpack against the wall closest to it. Now she just had to find a creepy necromancer. She walked back to the entrance and motioned for Lizzie to take Chad across the room to the side with the pit.

Passing Hope, the blonde handed off her backpack with the sand clock then followed the tribrid's instructions. Lizzie knew to keep out of the way and draw as little attention as possible.

"Where is he?" Hope asked Josie, pulling one of Lizzie's backpack straps up her left shoulder.

"You have to warn Dad and the others!" Josie said quickly now that it seemed okay for her to talk. "There's—"

"They'll be fine," Hope reassured her. "Where is he?" she asked again.

"Probably planning some _grand_ entrance," the brunette said, looking heavenward.

"Right you are," the Necromancer said as he teleported right behind Hope.

Sensing the magic behind her before he even spoke, she slammed her right elbow back into his chest, spun around and brought her fist up in an uppercut to his mouth. _That felt better than stopping fireballs_ , she thought.

He backed away, spreading his arms out in a grand gesture despite the blood coming from his mouth. "Manners, my dear, and welcome! So glad you could accept the invitation!"

Nonplussed, she waited patiently for him to continue and was thankful he backed away since his talking made some of the blood drip on the floor. _Ew_.

"I assume since you're here, you have what I asked for?"

"I do," she confirmed.

He looked at her bag with barely contained excitement.

"I want Josie first," she said. "Break the circle and it's yours."

"That wasn't the deal," he said.

She shrugged. "You want the sand clock, we want Josie. I'm just making sure you uphold your end of the bargain."

"Oh I will, but there's something else I want first," he said.

"Changing the rules?" she asked.

"More of a loophole," he shrugged.

She pulled Lizzie's backpack around to hold in her hands, unzipping to allow the fake clock to peek out of the top. She glanced at her watch without him noticing, he was too busy staring at his prize. _Just a little longer_.

"If you want it, you're going to have to take it from me," she said, zipping the bag closed and swinging it onto her back, shrugging into the straps.

She sensed his magic behind her again a split second after he disappeared in front of her.

" _Expello_."

The Necromancer bounced back in a wave of blue light.

"Oops, did you think this would be easy?" she asked, turning to glare at him.

While Hope baited her ridiculous captor, no one noticed Josie's eyes fill with the blackest black.

_The blood. That's exactly what I need. Leave it to the tribrid. May even thank her later._

Keeping an eye on the dueling two, she pressed the bands on her wrists to her lips, quickly siphoning the magic from them, rendering them useless. She focused on creating a tiny path in the circle, nothing too big, just enough to send out a trace of magic to bring back a drop of blood.

 _It's just enough to create a link. If I link myself to him, I can make_ him _do as I command...like putting his black magic into the mora miserium for me._

Lizzie, after checking on her sister and seeing that she was okay, devoted all her attention to her part in the plan. It was nothing really, just a matter of unlocking a set of cuffs for now. But she was still worried.

Anything could go wrong at any moment.

* * *

Trouble arrived as soon as the girls went inside, like trouble was waiting for them.

"Ric!" Kai exclaimed. "How nice to see you, buddy!"

Alaric swung his crossbow up into place, letting loose before anyone could blink.

The arrow disappeared through the heretic's chest and came out the other side without inflicting any damage at all.

"Huh," Kai looked down. "That's weird. I wonder why..." he glanced up at Alaric and grinned.

"A ghost then," Alaric said, lowering his weapon. _Great_. It was hard enough killing a heretic to begin with. How do you kill one that's already dead... or _dead-er_? He shook his head.

"Relax, Ric," Kai said. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. But _he_ might."

A blur of white feathers came swooping in, shooting a magical arrow at Jed. Kaleb snatched it out of midair before it came into contact with him.

Jed looked at Kaleb, wide-eyed.

"I've been practicing," the vampire shrugged, tossing the arrow to the ground.

"He's circling around," MG said, looking up at the sky.

"You're all like sitting ducks," Kai said, laughing at the group of them. "Which one should he pick off first?"

"Boys, separate!" Alaric tossed the reloaded crossbow to MG while the other three did as they were told. It wasn't like he would need it against a ghost.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" MG squeaked. He never even held one before.

"Shoot things!" he pressed the bag of devil's ivy into the vampire's hand. "Use this!"

MG looked at the bag, then the approaching flying god. "This isn't going to end well."

Being the last one to start running, Pothos headed after him first.

MG swore, then looked for cover so he could figure out how to get the magical god killing weed onto the arrow latched in the crossbow. He hoped he didn't have to reload this thing because he had no idea how to do that.

When Rafael looked back and saw the winged creature flying in the opposite direction, he knew he had to follow to try to help whoever it was chasing.

Kaleb must've run in the same direction as him and had the same thought because he soon joined him. "Who is it after?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Rafael whispered back.

They picked up speed but then Rafael dropped back when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. "What's that?"

Kaleb stopped some distance away to look back at him. "What's what?"

Rafael peered through the graves, trying to find whatever it was he saw. There might be another creature. He didn't see anything though.

"I guess it was nothing," he said and turned back to Kaleb.

He jumped when The Necromancer appeared in front of him.

"Kill them all," he commanded sinisterly.

Rafael didn't understand what was happening. Why was he suddenly advancing on Kaleb? He tried to hold himself back, but he felt his anger mounting. He growled as his eyes dilated.

"Yo," Kaleb said, sounding worried. "What's up? Your eyes, they're..."

Rafael attacked.

Alaric watched the boys run off and hoped they had learned enough to handle themselves. He needed to take care of the Kai problem before he could help them.

"See, Ric," Kai said, jumping up to sit on the cold concrete gracing the final resting place of someone's grandma. "I don't want to fight you."

"What do you want, Kai?"

"I want you to help me."

Alaric scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"I know, sounds crazy," Kai said. "I mean, I'm the furthest thing from..." he grinned, eyes sparkling.

"I was hoping you'd help out of the goodness of your heart," Kai continued. "But if not, well, rumor has it my other niece is inside that building. You know, the blonde one? I'm so sad I didn't get to meet her," he ended in a sing-song voice.

His eyes grew hard. "Maybe I should change that." He reached out and made a shovel left by a forgetful groundskeeper hover in the air.

"What do you want, Kai?" Alaric said, exasperated.

"I need you to get my bones and burn them," he said.

"Why?" Alaric asked, perplexed.

"See, I'm not like that cupid with a vengeance creature, nor am I like the dude with all those feline parts. I made a deal with the Necromancer, yes, but I didn't hold up my end," Kai grinned. "He wanted Jo Junior, I said I'd help but, me being me, I wanted her to die."

"Get to the point," Alaric said, he didn't have all day.

"Since I didn't uphold my end, well, when he gets enough power to bring me back, I get to be his little puppet," Kai revealed. "Something tells me you might like that even less than I do."

He wasn't wrong. "Why the bones?"

"He's consecrating supernaturals, Ric," Kai explained. "Our spirits are trapped here until he can put us back in our bodies. He's a little low on power right now but as long as he gets the spirit this far, he doesn't have to do as much work when he gets it. Plus, consecrating means our spirits return here if we die again so he can just put us back in our bodies and we're good as new. Destroy my bones, and do it outside of the cemetery."

This entire scenario didn't sit well with Alaric. He sure hoped the girls knew what they were doing because this sounded like it would blow up in their faces.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"What? My bones?" Kai laughed, jumping down from his perch. "Come on, I'll take you to them."

Alaric stayed in place, not wanting to follow the devil anywhere.

"Don't worry, it's not far," Kai said. "You _do_ have a match, don't you?"

Alaric sighed. Yeah, he had a lighter. He just wasn't sure he should take Kai at his word or not.

"Good, let's go!" Kai led the way with a jaunty skip to his step.

Jed lost track of everyone when he ran, but he used his sense of smell and picked up the trail of another werewolf and vampire. He assumed it was Rafael and Kaleb since he saw MG take off in a different direction.

He heard some growling in the distance and ran for the sound. He arrived just in time to see Rafael, eyes glowing, with Kaleb in a tackle hold biting into the vampire's arm. _What was happening?_

"Rafael!" Jed yelled. "What are you doing?"

His alpha looked up and his eyes narrowed.

"He's possessed!" Kaleb yelled.

Rafael pushed Kaleb to the side and spoke to Jed. "He's right. I don't know what's going on, but as soon as I bit Kaleb I didn't have the urge to attack him anymore." _Because he's as good as dead._

"Well, that's great," Kaleb said, jumping to his feet and holding his wound. "Just bite and run, why don't you?" Thank goodness the school had werewolf bite cures.

Rafael could feel the urge growing again, the anger. "Whatever it is, it's not over," he said, clenching his teeth. He was pretty sure he had his answer now. He had died. The Necromancer was in control.

"What's happening now?" Jed asked warily.

The wolf stared at Jed and began to advance.

"Bro, you better run," Kaleb called out.

Jed took one last look at his alpha then heeded his friend's advice.

MG wasn't sure if he could outrun the flying creature, but he wasn't taking any chances as he hid behind a large tombstone and quickly took out the ivy to wrap around the arrow.

He sat back against the cement, clutching the device in his hands. He tried to focus, willing his power into the crossbow in his hands much like Hal Jordan did using his ring as Green Lantern. He could do this. He was a vampire. He had speed, agility. He would just aim the crossbow and... he looked down searching for a release mechanism. _There_. He just needed to release that and the arrow would fly and boom! No more Pothos. He clutched the crossbow to his chest, closed his eyes tightly, mentally preparing to get up and track down the creature.

"Well, hello, vampire."

MG looked up, tilting his head back against the grave. Pothos stood on the edge of the tombstone, looking down at him, grinning with some of the most disturbing teeth MG had ever seen.

"Not exactly the kind of heart I was expecting," Pothos sniffed the air. "But I sense love. Your heart beats strongly for someone. Pity they'll never see you again." He flew from his perch, tumbling in mid air, and coming to a rest right in front of MG.

MG fumbled for the crossbow, trying to get it into position. Quite by accident, he hit the release. He heard the silent _swoosh_. Grimacing, he looked up and saw that somehow, miraculously, his accidental shot was true.

Pothos looked down at the arrow in his chest. "Beginner's luck," he said before falling to the ground.

MG hopped up and backed away half expecting the god to get right back up and chase him again. When he didn't, MG left, running in the direction of the mausoleum and the girls. He hoped everyone was okay. He hadn't seen anyone else since he left the group.

* * *

She was getting to him. She could tell. He had even disappeared for an entire minute before showing up again. That one worried her because if he left for too long, the plan would fall apart.  _Almost time_ .

"Isn't this cat and mouse game getting a little old... _Mouse_ ," she said, running to another corner of the room.

"Mouse!" he said outraged, teleporting next to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, _Mouse_ doesn't work for you?" she asked, with a flick of her fingers, pressing him against a wall. "How about _Ted_?"

He pushed off her spell and hollered, "Don't call me that!" He shot out his own burst of magic.

She actually laughed when he managed to make her fall to the floor.

"Good one," she smiled, getting to her feet. "My coach would claim I'm not focusing."

"This is senseless," he said. "We're evenly matched, you and I. Neither to be the victor."

"Just give me Josie," she said.

"That's not all you want is it?" he changed tactics.

She pursed her lips, thinking. "I'd also like some new boots. Don't suppose you can help with that?"

"Malivore's son perhaps?" he inquired.

She tilted her head silently, trying to figure out his new ploy. His little eye must've spied on her and Clarke at some point.

"Give me the mora miserium, and you _will_ get Josie and the son," he said.

"Now you're trying to change the deal completely?" She pretended to think about it, but really there was no choice. She had to get Rafael free too, and he wasn't offering that. He _couldn't_ know she knew about that.

"He _is_ valuable to you," he pointed out.

"That's true," she nodded, considering. She walked away with her back turned towards him, glancing at Chad. He glanced at his hands where she could see the cuffs were now slightly opened and just lying across his wrists.

She turned back to _Ted_. "And he does come with so much helpful information. He's incredibly resourceful. Did you know he actually pretended to be headmaster at our school?"

"Yes, amusing," he said, his pinkie finger wiggled slightly.

She quickly continued before he decided it was more than a twitch.

"And so many spells," she said, shaking her head in mock admiration. "You know, he even knew some _I'd_ never heard of before?"

"Clearly he's valuable," he encouraged. "So, what do you say?"

"The easiest and most useful one though?" she continued. "Time delay."

He looked at her, unimpressed.

"Hey, Thed!" Chad said the name with a slight lisp since he was commanded not to use the actual name.

The Necromancer looked at him and saw Chad wave excitedly.

He didn't understand why he raised his own hand to wave back at Chad. He looked at his palm in wonder.

"You know, creating a link between yourself and another living creature is never a good idea," she said a split second before Chad jumped into the Malivore pit.

As she watched, the mimic spell she used and put a time delay on made Ted run toward the pit. Once Chad jumped in, all memories of him were lost so the sorcerer had no idea why he was heading to the pit.

"What—?" He tried to use magic to stop himself from being propelled forward, but it was no use. He didn't know what magic was used so he couldn't undo it.

She watched the black inky depths suck him down and she smiled. One down.

No sooner had his head sunk beneath than Hope heard a clanking sound behind her.

Josie, her eyes clouded in black, was trying to hold herself back. The chains had fallen to the ground, the sound Hope had heard, and Dark Josie must've broken the circle while Hope was fighting Ted.

_Why can't I stop myself? Why do I feel the urge to run and jump into that pit? If I had been a lesser being, I would've jumped in by now. What's going on?_

As Hope watched, Josie started sliding toward the pit. Her eyes widened. She didn't know how, but Josie must've been linked to The Necromancer. Her mimic spell effected her too since it was set to find any link to him within a twelve hundred square foot radius—the size of the mausoleum.

She jumped onto Josie and pinned her to the floor. "You're linked to someone who went into the pit!"

They both started sliding across the floor. "Lizzie! Block the pit!"

Lizzie, having absolutely no idea why she was standing in a crypt holding a pair of handcuffs, saw that Hope and Josie were in trouble and looked for anything she could find that was big enough to put over top of the pit.

"Josie! Undo the link!" Hope cried out, pushing the witch into the floor with as much strength as she could muster to make her stop sliding.

Lizzie tipped a giant cement stoup on its side across the top of the pit, ignoring the water that spilled out the basin. "Holy water, schmoly water."

" _Who made the link_?" Dark Josie asked, trying to use her magic to create a pillow to block her from the pit.

"You did, I think?" Hope said, biting her lip and searching for something to grab hold of to stop their movement.

" _Who put the spell on the link?_ "

"I did," Hope said with realization. "Oh." She wanted to kick herself.

" _Retexo_."

Finally the sliding stopped.

Hope rolled off, taking the backpack off before lying flat on the floor in relief.

"What happened?" Lizzie said, relieved, struggling to push the heavy cement out of the way now that they needed the pit clear again. "What's going on? Why are we here? There better not be cobwebs." She looked around. "There are actual dead people in here, aren't there?"

"All very good questions," Hope groaned, sitting up. "But first, Josie here has one more spell to perform."

"I knew that one," Lizzie said.

Dark Josie got to her feet, gracefully and silently. Her dark eyes were drawn to the pit.

"Where do you want me to stand?" Hope asked. "I assume you need me nearby to get him out once you bring his body back?"

" _There is fine_."

 _I know there's a spell blocking my mind again. Someone went into the pit. I'll have to perform the spell to return my memories_ again _. If people could stop jumping into Malivore that would be great. Maybe I could find a way to stop the memories from being erased... For now though, I have a debt to repay._

Hope and Lizzie watched as Dark Josie conjured up a spell of magic that formed into a large black cloud. Wind whipped around the room, propelling the cloud to the pit. They couldn't see what was happening but they knew something was. Dark Josie reached out toward Hope suddenly.

Hope tensed, wondering if she would feel when he was taken from her. She didn't.

The air crackled and Josie pressed her hands toward the cloud again.

" _Surge sursus_ ," she said.

_The power was moving through me, I could feel it all at once. It was magnificent and beautiful. My power is incredible! I can scarcely wait to see what else it can do. This spell requires a lot but not nearly enough to weaken me. I wonder if that's why the girls supported this plan so much, especially since my dear twin detested the man I was bringing back. If so, they would both be sorely disappointed._

As she chanted _"Surge sursus_ " again, commanding the magic to "Rise Up," she wondered at the time the spell was taking. Surely she should've brought him back by now.

The magic took hold, the black energy pouring forth, and suddenly it became overwhelming.

 _No_ , she struggled. _It's taking too much. It's not supposed to take that much energy, that much power._ She tried to put a stop to the spell, but it was no use. The darkness had a mind of its own and once started, it couldn't be stopped. She had no choice but to give in to it.

As the magic did its work, draining the power, she realized suddenly why it was taking too much.

She wasn't just bringing back one. 

She accidentally tapped into the magical forces surrounding another.

_Malivore_

That was her last coherent thought before she was forced back and Josie's real personality took over.

"Yep, that's Clarke," Lizzie said right before Hope slapped a hand over her face, covering her eyes.

Hope, covering her own eyes, called out, "Get dressed!" She could feel herself blushing since they both got an eyeful once the black smoke cleared.

Clarke laughed, "Right." He stretched first, standing on firm ground where the pit once stood. "It's good to be back." He went to rifle through the backpack Hope had left for him. He pulled out the boxer-briefs first, stooping to tug them on.

"Wait," Lizzie said, pulling down Hope's hand and looking at her. "So since he was, like, reborn or something...that doesn't make Josie his mother, does it?"

"No!" Hope rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

Josie opened her eyes to a world that made absolutely no sense. The last thing she remembered was going to sleep in her bed. She had lost complete and total track of time.

"What's going on?" she asked the girls standing nearby. She felt drained. She could barely stand. She really needed to sit down.

Lizzie grabbed the crystal out of her pocket. "Here, hold this."

Josie took it in her left hand. She could feel the power seeping out of it. "What is it?"

"Call it...a magical healing bomb maybe?" Lizzie said. "We got all the witches at the school to put a little bit of earth magic in it, nothing black about it. They all cast a spell on themselves to increase their power using nature. It's for you."

Josie looked at it in awe. "They all did this for me?"

"And one more," Lizzie said. She reached out for Hope's left hand then took hold of Josie's right.

"Siphon it," Lizzie said with a nod.

As Josie began to siphon from the crystal, Lizzie siphoned magic from Hope and transferred it into Josie too. Hope couldn't afford to give up any magic before the big battle, but now that it was over she would do everything she could to make sure the black magic was gone.

Clarke had his jeans and t-shirt on. He tugged the sweater over his head then paused to watch the girls. He was nearly blinded by the white light shining off of Josie. If that didn't drive out all of the darkness, he didn't know what would. He bent to pull on the shoes.

Finally, Josie siphoned all the magic from the crystal, its glow going out. She felt a little shaky. She was a _lot_ better, more at home in her skin than she felt in a long time, but she was still exhausted and drained. The magic she siphoned had served to heal her, to force out the darkness, but it didn't leave any left for her to use without siphoning again.

"I need a nap...and... I think a shower." She sniffed herself.

They all laughed and Lizzie let go of Hope's hand.

Hope swayed a little and grabbed hold of Lizzie's arm.

"I think we _all_ need a nap," Lizzie said, reaching out to steady her friend.

"I've got her," Clarke said, coming to join them and taking Hope's hand from Lizzie.

"Welcome back," Hope said with a smile, relieved this was finally all over.

She definitely gave more magic than she probably should have though. She tightened her grip on his hold and also reached out to grip his arm with her other hand, facing him. She would find enough strength to move in a minute. Right now, she needed someone to ground her.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Josie asked in horror, backing away.

"It's okay," Hope said. She had no idea how to explain everything to Josie.

"We'll explain everything later," Lizzie insisted, reaching for Josie and putting a protective arm around her. "Trust me, we need him." And she was going to get that merge information out of him at the first available opportunity.

"Right now we need to get him out of here before your dad sees him," Hope said, knowing Doctor Saltzman wouldn't understand, just like it appeared Josie didn't considering the angry glare she was shooting at Clarke.

MG came running through the door just then. "I came here because I smelled blood, but I don't know why you're all here...and I killed Pothos!" he finished proudly.

"Join the club," Lizzie said. "I think only Hope knows what's happening at this point...and probably Clarke." She nodded at him.

Nodding, MG took it all in stride, but he gave pause when he saw the guy Lizzie called "Clarke".

"Hey, don't I know you?" MG asked, squinting to remember.

Clarke stiffened slightly but shrugged at the vampire. "I just have one of those faces?"

"Remember the mummy?" Lizzie said. "Clarke was part of Triad and we took out the mummy but then he still got that magical urn." She remained bitter about it to this day.

"MG didn't go with us on spring break," Hope reminded her. "But, MG, remember when the Krampus..." She trailed off because MG hadn't been there for that either. She couldn't remember seeing him around at all that day.

She honestly couldn't remember any other time that MG could have seen Clarke. Every time _she_ saw him, MG definitely hadn't been around.

MG knew he had seen this guy before. When Lizzie mentioned Triad, he wondered if it was because of his mother, but he never met any of his mother's coworkers. He didn't even know what his mother _really_ did for a living before last year. He definitely hadn't seen this guy since he came to the Salvatore School, which meant...

"You were there that night," MG realized, stepping back in shock.

Clarke had to shake his head at the irony. He went through all of this to get his body back. He actually made a friend along the way. He was on the right track to solidifying himself in Hope's life—a place he now knew he wanted to be for as long as possible. And then the one thing that no one knew he did to help take out his father's enemies was coming back to bite him in the ass at the worst possible moment.

"You were there the night I was turned," MG said, still backing away, but his emotions were going haywire.

Lizzie looked at Clarke in shock, her arm tightening around Josie who gasped.

Hope pulled away from him and asked softly, like she was scared of the answer, "Clarke? What's he talking about?"

Clarke missed her touch the instant she released him.

"You were the guy," MG accused. The veins in his face started pumping to the surface. "The guy who needed help. I 'd just gotten off the bus after coming home from Comic-Con but someone needed help and I followed. I never did find you, but someone else found me. Some _thing_ else."

Everyone was looking at Clarke again, but what could he say? That he hadn't meant for the boy to see him well enough to recognize him when he saw him again? He had to do it quickly since Veronica was already on her way back to town. Unfortunately, when Josie returned everyone's memories of Hope, she returned all the memories of him too by accident or else Milton Greasley would've never remembered him that night.

"Clarke?" Hope asked again, her voice demanding an explanation.

"Don't you prefer being a vampire?" he asked, attempting to cajole MG. "Why bother with semantics?"

It was the wrong thing to say to a ripper.

MG lost control completely and warped sped towards Clarke who barely had time to blink.

Hope somehow managed to get in front of Clarke and slammed her hands against MG's chest before he could reach him.

The crazed vampire kept struggling and it was all Hope could do to hold him off.

"Get out of here!" Hope yelled at Clarke.

"But—" How was she holding him off when she could barely stand on her own a second ago?

"I've got this!" she found some magic and forced it out. " _Expello_!"

MG flew back for an instant, but it wasn't enough to stop him from trying again to reach Clarke.

" _Expello!"_ She did the spell again, this time throwing him further back so he slammed into the mausoleum wall. She raced forward and pressed MG against the wall, trying to subdue his struggles, calling on all of her wolf strength.

"MG, breathe!" Lizzie shouted. "Just breathe, focus on your breathing!"

"Clarke! He won't calm down as long as you're here!" Hope insisted, yelling over her shoulder. "I'll find you! Just go!"

He hesitated.

Lizzie looked around for anything that could help. She didn't want to chance distracting Hope by approaching them to desiccate MG. She remembered the bowling pin disguised as the sand clock. She grabbed for the backpack Hope had left on the floor. "You heard her, mud boy. Go before my best friend does something to all of us he'll regret."

With both of them telling him to leave, he backed toward the entrance but took in the situation entirely. Hope must've recovered in those few minutes because she really did seem to have MG contained for now. He saw Lizzie pull the sand clock out of the bag and siphon the magic from the glamour.

Turning, she used the magic to further help Hope contain MG, relieving some of the pressure Hope was under.

"Go!" Lizzie shouted at him.

Knowing Hope, and that if she said she could handle it she really could, he reluctantly left.

He wondered every step of the way if he was making a mistake, even turning around a few times, but going back could mean her losing control of MG and making the situation even worse.

Turning a corner, he nearly crashed into Alaric Saltzman.

He waved with a smirk, "They're back there."

He figured that was the reason for the lost look on Alaric's face. The man probably had no idea why he was in the cemetery much like the Greasley kid.

"Stained glass windows," he provided, then he kept walking, feeling a bit better since he sent some help along.

He had no idea where he was going but if Hope said she'd find him, she would. For now, he was getting out of the cemetery.

Before he left though, he was approached by another. He drew back, really wishing he had a weapon of his own at this point.

"Solve my riddle and I will tell you where your answers lie," the Sphinx said.

"That's...okay," he reassured the part human, part feline creature, circling around it. "I'm not interested." The Sphinx must have been raised by The Necromancer, but Hope hadn't been worried about him mostly because he hadn't exhibited any violent behavior.

"If you don't listen, all hope could be lost," the Sphinx warned.

Clarke stopped at that, "What about Hope?" Maybe he should go back after all...

The Sphinx stared at him, waiting.

"Okay then," Clarke tilted his head in frustration. "The riddle?"

"What can't talk but will reply when spoken to?" the Sphinx asked.

Luckily, he knew that one. "An echo," he replied.

The Sphinx nodded, "You are correct."

Clarke just stared at him, waiting.

The Sphinx's eyes turned to white and glowed as he saw that which was unseen to all others.

" _Follow the path directed and heed the warning tweeted.  
Protected in lost recollections,  
endless foes will hunt the littlest wolf.  
Give thanks in the big crescent.  
Slaying the beast requires a sacrifice.  
The royal dowry is always and forever."_

* * *

Alaric felt like he woke up in a parallel universe, but he didn't remember how he got there. That was the problem; he didn't remember much of anything.

He remembered talking to Kai and burning the bones outside of the cemetery, but he couldn't remember why he was near the cemetery to begin with or why Kai wanted his bones burned. Other parts of his conversation with Kai were a bit fuzzy too.

He reentered the cemetery to scout the area and stumbled upon Rafael, Kaleb, and Jed all looking the worse for wear. The boys didn't know why they were in the cemetery either; they just knew that Rafael had attacked them. Rafael, of course, didn't know why he had done that. Seeing Kaleb's wound, he sent the boys back to the school and directed them to a werewolf cure he kept in his desk.

Continuing to investigate, wondering if other students would pop out, he shook his head when he noticed a crossbow lying on the ground in his path. Who left his crossbow just lying around? He picked it up and proceeded in his quest.

Turning a corner, he nearly walked into Agent Ryan Clarke.

_What in the world?_

"They're back there," the man said. "Stained glass windows."

Alaric stared at his retreating back, trying to understand how he fit into what was happening. _And wasn't he dead?_

He hurried along the path, growing worried when he heard shouts from inside the mausoleum that sounded like his girls.

Upon entering, he took it all in.

MG was in ripper mode. Hope must've been the one trying to calm him down but as he watched, MG finally broke her hold and sank his teeth into her neck, gulping at a furious, frantic pace. Josie tried to hit him with a bowling pin while Lizzie tried to get a hold on him to siphon, which didn't work as MG swatted her away, pushing her hard enough to fall and slide across the room.

Alaric didn't hesitate.

He raised the crossbow and fired.

MG finally let go of Hope as he sank back, the arrow in his heart prominently protruding out of his chest.

"No!" Lizzie screamed.

Alaric watched Hope fall to the ground, having no idea if he stopped MG in time.

That wasn't true.

He got to him in time.

He _had_ to.

He couldn't live with the other option.

* * *

Evelyn Scott was basking in her mid-day jog. A surgeon, specializing in cardiology, she tried to get away at least once during the day to keep her own heart healthy.

Today she was taking her usual path through the park. She had to stop for a breather, and she stretched for a moment.

She heard a strange sound and the wind picked up suddenly. Frowning, she glanced around. The wind wasn't evident anywhere else except by a nearby bit of brush and trees.

Curious, she wondered over. Why was the wind concentrated in just that one area?

She noticed the wind turning black. Was there a fire? Was this smoke? She didn't smell anything burning, so she tried to get a closer look to make sure. She started reaching for her cell phone just in case.

The 'smoke' began to clear and the wind died down so she dared to push a fully covered branch out of the way to peer inside the small alcove created by tree and bush.

She gasped when she saw the strange form of some kind of monster with a symbol on its forehead. She tried to run away but an invisible force stopped her. She felt like there were hands on her arms but she couldn't see anyone. She could see the shadows though. She tried to scream for help but an invisible hand covered her mouth as well.

There was a purple flash as the dark creature, the color of mud, stepped forward with outstretched palm. It touched her face and then...

Evelyn Scott shook off the hands holding her, picked up the cell phone that had fallen, waved a hand to open a black pit in the ground, and tossed the phone into it. She pushed the large golem figure into the pit as well.

Then Evelyn Scott walked away as the hole closed behind her, the shadows scrambling to jump inside before it closed.

Evelyn Scott didn't return to work that day, nor did she go home and phone her parents.

Evelyn Scott was no more.


	12. It's Not Some Great Suffering I Feel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

She knew this place.

Standing in the middle of a dirt road, she saw the rugged driveway ahead. To the right, a large colonial style two-story house with white siding and slate shutters complete with a long wrap-around porch. To the left, there was a beautiful garden with metal rung patio chairs and a table. The path beyond led to the woods.

She spent nearly five years of her life here as a child.

This was the first place she met her father.

A ball of hope bubbling in her chest, she ran toward the gate in the fence.

There he was.

Sitting on the front porch with that special smile he reserved only for her that made his whole face light up.

She flung the gate open and raced to him.

He stood to meet her and swept her into his embrace.

"Dad! I've missed you so much," she said, burying her face into his chest, holding him tightly.

"And I you," he said, clutching her just as tightly and running a hand down her hair.

He kept the hold for as long as he dared before pulling back gently. 

"Hope, sweetheart, I need you to go back."

"Go back? Why would I leave?" she asked.

"You've got a lot of life left to live," he said.

"But, Ted—The Necromancer, he said you would never find peace until I do," she shook her head. "If I go back, I just—I don't know if I'll ever be at peace. It's just so hard. I don't want to do that to you. Not anymore."

"Sweetheart, _love_ ," he stressed. "Look around you. Do you know why I'm here? It's because I found a little slice of heaven when I walked down that path and spent a glorious afternoon with my daughter. I watch over you from this place because everything here reminds me of you. You are and have always been the most important thing in the world to me. Of course I will never be completely at peace until you are. But it's not some great suffering I feel. I look on you with contentment and unconditional love. There is no greater joy to me than watching over you. When the day comes that you truly are at peace, I'll know my job is done for the moment. I will also know that you will return to me one day and I will hold you in my arms again. Always and forever, if you'd like."

"I'd like that," she said, her eyes filled with tears.

"Your friends are calling you back now," he said.

"Can't I stay a little longer?" she asked.

"No," he said with a loving smile.

"You know though, I think your mother might be right," he continued.

She looked up at him with a silent question.

"He might just be the one," he said, shaking his head with a little laugh.

"Who's the one for what?" she asked, confused.

"Just remember, we're capable of doing terrible things, but we're also capable of forgiveness," he said, remembering something Rebekah had once told him.

"Dad?"

"Go now, and don't look back," he said.

She let go of him slowly. It hurt letting go.

"Go!" he insisted.

"I love you!" she said and then she left, running out of the gate, back down the dirt road.

"I love you too," he whispered. "Always and forever."

* * *

She opened her eyes. Then winced.

Sunlight was streaming through the open window, right across her face.

As awareness returned to her, she noted that she was in a bed in the infirmary at school. This wasn't a place she ever had to go since she healed so quickly and was never sick.

She tried to sit up and _wow_ was that a bad idea.

Had a truck hit her? Because everything just _hurt_. She was sore all over but the pain in her neck was the worst.

Why wasn't she healing? Why was she here? What was going on? What day was it?

The last thing she remembered was... _MG_. She tried to reach him, tried to calm him down. Nothing she said seemed to help. Once Clarke left, MG changed prey and tried to go after her instead. Lizzie used magic to help but it quickly ran out. Hope wanted to break his neck, but she knew she was weak. She worried if she let go he would bite her before she could get her hands around his neck. She wasted too much time trying to decide, weakened too much, and he got past her defenses anyway.

He bit her and she could feel him draining her even as she tried to struggle. Eventually it was too much and then everything went black.

Then...her father. She smiled softly as she remembered but then her eyes widened.

Had she died? Was she a vampire now? But why did everything hurt? Was she in transition? She knew this would happen eventually, she just wanted to be a little older first. Maybe twenty-one? Possibly twenty-five? Who wanted to be a teenager for the rest of their life?

Her heart rate must've started fluctuating at her thoughts because a beeping sound blared near her head.

_Hey, at least I have a heartbeat._

"Hope!"

She glanced over to see Doctor Saltzman coming in to check on her. He came to her side, looking pretty rumpled, the worry etched across his face.

"You're awake, _finally_ ," he said with relief.

"How...long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"Two days."

_Not in transition then..._

"Not a vampire, right...?" she murmured hopefully.

"You've been out for two days," he said again. "You survived. Barely. You got lucky."

"MG?" she asked.

"I had to put an arrow through his heart," he said.

Tears stung her eyes. "He's—"

"He got lucky too."

She tried to sit up again, this time in shock. "He's alive?"

"Apparently your blood heals more than werewolf bites," he explained. "When Lizzie removed the arrow, he came back to life. He drained so much of your blood it's still in his system. He's been walking around testing it for the past two days to see how long it lasts, taking his daylight ring off discretely." He shook his head.

She stared at him, fascinated. Obviously they both knew her blood healed the vampires from the wolf bites, but they never tested her blood further than that.

"I've sworn the girls and MG to secrecy," Alaric continued. "The vampires of the world don't need to know draining your blood might protect them from death, even if it's for a little while. It's hard enough keeping the source of the werewolf cures on the down low. If _that_ rumor got out?"

He didn't need to go on. She didn't want to be everyone's favorite blood bag.

"As far as the school knows, you fought a new creature from the pit and it nearly killed you," he continued. "Though none of us actually know completely what happened, so hopefully you can fill us in when you're feeling up to it."

"Why am I not healing?" she asked.

"You are," Alaric shrugged, wincing a little. "Just not as fast as usual yet. Hopefully within a day or two you'll be good as new."

She nodded.

He fell into a deep silence.

She glanced at him, wondering at the somber look on his face. No one died, she was awake, so why?

"You brought back Agent Clarke," he said, growing much more serious. "And you used Josie to do it."

"I didn't use her," she denied. "She wanted to do it."

"No, the darkness did," he said gravely. "The real Josie has spent the past two days jumping at her shadow. She doesn't know if he'll show up again in some other form and try to send her down the rabbit hole again."

"He won't," she assured him. "He won't hurt anyone. He promised." And just as soon as she could get out of this bed she would go and find him herself. He had some explaining to do.

Alaric sighed. "Spare me teenage girls and the guys that aren't any good for them. Did he seduce you? Is that it? What about Landon?" He thought Hope knew better than this. After everything that guy had done? To _her_?

"He's just a friend, okay?" Hope said, exasperated. "And he has information about the merge he's going to tell us."

"Where is he then, Hope? He disappeared. No one has seen him since he left you, Lizzie, and Josie there to die. He's not your friend. He's not a good guy."

"I told him to go!" she insisted. "I said I could handle MG. And I told him that I'd find him."

"You're not going anywhere near him again," Alaric said firmly. He knew he was overstepping his bounds, but she scared him. She nearly died.

"You can't stop me," she said as fiercely as she could given her current circumstances.

"Not forever," Alaric would give her that. "But for now? For now you aren't going anywhere. Your strength was drained, your magic was drained, and your _blood_ was drained. You're too weak to even sit up in that bed. You aren't going anywhere. And after you heal? Well, I'll just do what I have to do to keep protecting you."

"You're not my father," she glared daggers at him.

"No, but I'm sure he'd agree with me," he said.

"Don't be so sure," she huffed.

* * *

"Raf!" she smiled and sat up a little. It didn't hurt  _quite_ as much as the last time she tried. She was glad he was the first to come see her. Irrefutable proof that he survived when Ted jumped into the pit.

He came over and took the seat by her bed, glad to see her awake. "Don't scare me like that."

"How are you doing? Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

"Me?" Rafael asked, perplexed. "Aren't you the one who just woke up from a two day coma?"

"I'll be fine," she said. "But really, how are you?"

"Well, I don't understand why I bit Kaleb the other day, or why I have a cut that's nearly healed on my stomach, but other than that I'm good," he said.

"I think I can shed a little light on that," she said.

She went on to explain everything to him.

Looking pale, he swallowed. "So, this guy, he's gone? He won't be able to come back and control me again?"

She shook her head. "The portal to Malivore is closed. Also, he was using Malivore, manipulating him, so I'm sure if a portal ever opened, he'd never release him again."

"Good," he said, shaken to know he died and didn't even know. "I wish I could remember."

"So do I," she said. "But the spell to remember uses black magic."

"Doctor Saltzman had an entire assembly making sure _everyone_ knows black magic is forbidden from the school, so I get it," he said.

"How is everyone else?" she asked.

"Kaleb's better," he said. "Those werewolf cures work wonders."

"And MG?" she asked knowing Rafael wasn't aware that MG had attacked her. She was worried about him and wanted an unfiltered unbiased opinion.

He thought for a second, "He seems fine. He and Lizzie are spending a lot of time together lately. I think she's helping him with something? I'm not sure."

"Good," she said.

"But there is one person..." he trailed off.

"Who?" she asked.

"Landon," he said, wondering why she hadn't asked about him to begin with.

"He's okay, right?" her brow furrowed. Landon hadn't even come along to fight. She made sure he didn't. She didn't need any distractions. Worrying about him? That would've been a distraction.

"He wants to see you, he's waiting right outside, but he wanted me to ask first since the last time he saw you, well..."

"He _told_ you about that?" she asked, feeling the mortification return again in a small dose.

"He didn't understand," he explained, not telling her that _he_ hadn't understood either. "He needed someone to talk to."

She grimaced. "Yeah, send him in, I guess."

* * *

"Hey," Landon said with that hesitant smile of his, the one he had probably used all his life when he was unsure of the reception he was about to receive.

"Hi," she returned softly. Everything had fallen apart between him and her. Had they ever been fully together? Things just kept getting in the way. Thinking about it, she had been lying to him since they got back together again. She hadn't seen it that way at the time, but she could understand why he had such a knee jerk reaction. Finding out that last part, it just made everything so much worse. That he could even look at her right now amazed her.

"Thank God you're finally awake," he said, settling into the designated visitor chair by her bed. "I've been so worried."

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course," he said in surprise. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," she said. "I mean, you were pretty upset before..."

"I still love you," he said. "I mean, even though..."

She sat up straighter.

"Even though?" she asked. "It was a _dream_ , Landon. I don't even know where it came from."

"I know you can't always control your dreams," he said.

"Well, he's back now. And he hasn't made any of us regret it," she pointed out.

"It's only been two days," he stated.

"He won't do anything," she insisted for what felt like the hundredth time. "I know him."

"Yeah, and I guess he knows you pretty well too... _now_ ," he said bitterly.

"Please don't be jealous of him," she wanted to reach out to him, but she was unsure. Plus, it would probably hurt too much to move. "I promise I love _you_. And you love me. Remember? You said that the love we have is more than you ever dreamed of finding in this lifetime. More than you ever thought possible?"

He looked down. "I was hit with an epic love arrow."

She shook her head. "Yeah, but you said you didn't feel any difference."

He sighed. "Wouldn't someone hit with an epic love arrow say that?"

She felt this sinking feeling, like her entire world was running off-kilter.

"So, what you're saying is, you don't..." She couldn't even say it.

"I love you, Hope," he swore. "I do. _So_ much!" He knew how he felt; there was never any uncertainty about that. "But I don't know if I trust you."

She looked away. She had only herself to blame for that. But if what he said was true, she hadn't been the only one keeping things to themselves.

"I just...," he started. "I was so scared you were going to die, and I thought I was going to really lose you forever."

She said numbly, "If I died, I would've triggered my vampire side."

"But it wouldn't be you," he said.

There was that sinking feeling again.

"I'm the tribrid, Landon," she said. "Witch, werewolf, _and_ vampire. One day I'll be all three. _That's_ who I was born to be."

"Right," he agreed immediately.

She reached up with a shaky hand to push a lock of hair out of her face.

"So where does that leave us?" she finally managed to ask.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm going camping with Rafael tomorrow for a couple days. He needs to get away, and I...well, I need to think."

She nodded.

"We'll talk when I get back?" he offered.

"Okay, Landon," she said with no emotion. "When you get back."

* * *

Standing at the edge of a never ending darkness, she whimpered.

She had been here before, twice.

Trembling as she descended the steep staircase into the bottomless pit of despair, she knew what awaited her.

Loneliness.

Emptiness.

An endless agony of torment where peace was never within reach.

"No one should ever have to be alone like this," she cried out, an echo of her first time here.

The second time she had been in this place, someone else had been there. _He_ had been there.

This time, it didn't matter. No one could hear.

She could scream, cry, plead for someone to come, but it was pointless.

There wasn't anyone else.

Not anymore.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!"

Hope scrunched up her nose. She knew that voice. Did Lizzie really have to sound so chipper right now?

She didn't bother opening her eyes, though she was grateful to be dragged out of that nightmare. "I prefer Merida."

"You would," Lizzie said. "I, on the other hand, prefer Rapunzel."

"I'm more of a Green Lantern guy, myself," came a male voice.

She opened her eyes and grinned, "MG!"

MG was standing as close to the door as possible, skittish and uncertain.

"Hi, Hope," he said, his eyes sad.

"MG, get over here," she said, motioning for him. She sat up in bed gingerly, grateful to note that her healing was coming along nicely. She was still sore, but she felt more like she had when they drained her blood for simuLandon. It had only taken a day for her to heal from that, so maybe she would be well enough by tomorrow.

He hesitantly came over to join Lizzie by her bedside. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, MG," she said still smiling. "I forgive you. I'm going to be okay. See?" She indicated herself.

His eyes were drawn to the bandage on her neck.

She put a hand to it. "It doesn't even hurt that much anymore." She lied. It still stung something fierce, but she could tell he was beating himself up over it. He was going to keep doing that for a long time to come.

"I lost control," he said. "And it shouldn't have happened. I could've killed you all."

"But you didn't," Lizzie assured him, patting his arm.

"What happened?" Hope asked. "With Clarke?"

Lizzie frowned. "From what MG here told me, Clarke basically led him into a trap."

"But why would he do that?" Hope asked.

"Who knows why he does anything he does?" Lizzie asked.

"Don't tell me you're back to hating him," Hope said.

"When did I ever stop?" Lizzie shrugged. "Don't tell me that you _don't_ hate him now."

"I don't know the whole story," she said.

"I know all I need to know," Lizzie snapped, sitting back and crossing her arms across her chest.

"Lizzie," MG said, touching her shoulder.

"Don't," she jerked away.

Hope raised an eyebrow in question.

"He says he _does_ prefer to be a vampire, he just doesn't like the unpleasant ripper side effects," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "That still doesn't make what Clarke did alright."

"But Lizzie here," MG said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, "she's helping me with that. The side effects."

"How are you doing that?" Hope asked.

"Ripper 101, overcoming blood lust," Lizzie said. "I get to tie him up in a cell, drop some human blood in, and see if he can resist. I put a spell on it so it disappears before he can grab it. We'll just keep doing it until he learns control."

"How's that working out?"

"It's not," MG said, disgruntled. "Not so far."

"We'll keep working at it," Lizzie assured him. "You'll get it eventually."

"It's only been, what, three days?" Hope said. "Give it time."

"Okay, so, we need to go do that," Lizzie said. "And you need more rest. You know Daddy wouldn't even let us visit yesterday? Said you already had too many people stomping through and needed rest to heal. Of course that didn't stop _him_ from questioning you and learning all about The Necromancer. He filled all of us in, by the way. Wrote it down even. Apparently we need to start writing everything down now, what with everyone jumping into the fount of black goo."

"Hopefully I'll be well enough to leave tomorrow," Hope replied.

"And by _leave_ , you mean go back to your room, right?" Lizzie asked with an arched brow.

"Absolutely," Hope said, chin coming up stubbornly. She would go to her room. Then she would search for Clarke.

"Right," Lizzie nodded suspiciously, but left it at that.

Once they were gone, Hope sunk back and began calculating how she was going to find Clarke as soon as she was well enough.

Plotting helped take her mind off of that dream. She knew where it came from. That was her first sleep, the first dream since she came out of her coma...and the first time she slept without Clarke inside her in weeks.

Whether she wanted him there or not, he had always been with her.

And now?

Now she was truly alone.

* * *

"I'll be there," Alaric said into his cell phone.

Hanging up, he grabbed his jacket and shrugged into it with a sigh.

He didn't want to leave the school, but Sheriff Mac had called asking for his help. He blew the woman off so many times, was it any wonder she still called? But he couldn't really beg this one off.

Getting the task completed as quickly as possible was just what he would have to do. He couldn't afford to be away from the school too long, not with Hope on the mend. He needed to keep an eye on her. It was only a few days, but she would probably be back to nearly full strength tomorrow, if not today.

He left his office just as Kaleb was approaching.

"Hey," the vampire said. "There was a call for Hope on the school line. I said she's busy, that I could take a message, but he hung up. He didn't say his name but I figured maybe I should tell her?" He knew Doctor Saltzman was trying to make sure she got enough rest to heal; he didn't want to bother her without permission.

"I'll tell her," Alaric said, frowning. If it was who he thought it was... _no way in hell_ would he pass that message along.

"Thanks, Doctor S!" Kaleb said, doing his crazy finger pointing 'thanks' motion.

Alaric nodded with a tight smile.

* * *

_Freedom!_

Four days and she could finally return to her room. A bit weak still but well enough that she could say goodbye to that horrible infirmary room. It was small and stark; nevertheless, it was better than recovering in her own with...

"Oh, you're better," Alyssa said. "Pity, I was kind of hoping to have a single again."

"Careful, or _I_ might be the one with the single again," Hope threatened her.

Alyssa huffed but then, thankfully, she left.

Since she was better, she was supposed to return to her classes, but she didn't care. She was going to use today to try to locate Clarke. She should have enough power for _that_ at least. She just needed something of his first. She knew exactly what was needed; it was just a matter of getting it.

But first... _Where did I put that lip gloss?_

Later, sneaking out of Doctor Saltzman's office and glad he wasn't around to catch her; she nearly sprinted back to her room.

When she got there, she quickly grabbed a map and a chain to hang the ring from. She went to her dresser to find some sand she kept in a bottle on the top.

Hearing a loud knock on the bedroom door, she cursed and quickly shoved the ring into one of her drawers. With a flick of the wrist, she made the map fly under her bed.

"Who is it?"

"Hope, open up," Josie's voice rang through the door. "It's me."

"Hey," Hope said, opening the door and leaning against it. "How are you?"

"I should ask you the same," Josie said quietly.

"Better," Hope said with a small smile.

"Can I come in?" Josie asked.

"Sure," she backed up to give Josie space. She wanted to find Clarke, but there wasn't really a rush...just that Doctor Saltzman was going to make it difficult for her. She was probably trying to get it done so quickly because he told her she couldn't do it. She really didn't like being told what she wasn't allowed to do.

"I'm glad you're better," Josie said, walking in and sitting at the foot of her bed. "And thank you, for helping me. The darkness is gone for good this time. Emma did a spell and everything to check. I'm just sorry it made you so weak."

"I'd do it again in heartbeat," Hope said, sitting down next to her.

"I know," Josie said. "Which is why this is so hard."

"What is?"

"How could you let me bring him back?" she asked, anger growing in her voice.

Hope swallowed.

"The darkness wanted to," she said.

"But why did you even want to bring him back to begin with?" the twin asked, desperately trying to understand.

"The merge—"

"That's what Lizzie said, but he's hardly a last resort," Josie cut her off. "We don't need anything from _him_."

"Your dad said you were scared of him," Hope said, remembering his words.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Josie scoffed. "He used me and created this whole horrible mess to begin with."

Hope didn't know what to say. She wasn't wrong, he _had_ done that. She was just much better at forgiving people for their horrible actions. She had to be when her father was Klaus Mikaelson. She couldn't forgive her father for all the terrible things he had done but then turn her back on anyone else for doing the same thing.

If there was no purpose to it, that might give her pause, but she knew Clarke had only been trying to survive. Manipulative, duplicitous, vengeful—he did it in a way she never would have. But survival did that to someone, made them do things they wouldn't do otherwise. Just look at what she had Chad do. It was her idea. He agreed to it, knowing there was no other way, and he was searching for redemption for his hand in Rafael's death. Would she normally let someone sacrifice themself? No. But she was desperate for a way to save Rafael. Sometimes survival meant making the hard choices.

And if she ever had the chance to get Chad out of Malivore, she would take it.

"And _you_ used me too," Josie said spitefully. "Dad told me the story. You told him I was supposed to take care of The Necromancer. That was how you were going to weaken the darkness. You could have stuck to that plan. Instead, you took matters into your own hands because _you_ wanted to bring him back."

"I couldn't take the chance that Raf would die," Hope insisted. "And Clarke _does_ know something about the merge. I just have to find him and I'll get it."

"You're not going anywhere," Josie said. "I'm on Hope duty, and you have class."

"Are you serious?" She sighed.

This was getting ridiculous.

* * *

" _Ce che vous, pro la busque,"_ she chanted as she dangled the chain with the ring over the sand on the map in the only place she could get away at this time of night: the bathroom.

As the magic flowed through her, the sand began to move. It made its way to a place south of Mystic Falls, about thirty minutes outside of the town limits.

 _Did he have to be so far away?_ she thought in exasperation.

Cleaning up the sand and flushing it, she folded the map and hid it under her shirt in case her roommate had woken up and decided to rat her out.

She put the ring back in one of her dresser drawers for now.

She couldn't get away tonight, especially not when he was _that_ far away. She would try to figure out a way tomorrow.

For now, she would get some rest. She wondered who would be on 'Hope Duty' tomorrow. If she had to suffer through another day of Josie following her around while making puppy dog eyes at Jade, she just might make a run for it.

* * *

Lizzie was on Hope Duty today.

Which meant MG was too, basically.

If it weren't so gosh darn cute, she would be insulted that it looked like they were using her near death experience as an excuse to get closer to each other; but, knowing Lizzie, she would still deny that it was anything more than friendship.

Hope figured seeing MG with an arrow through his heart must've scared the crap out of her. There was no other reason she was pretty much glued to his side. Lizzie had made it her personal mission in life to make sure MG learned to control the ripper.

"Look who's back," Lizzie said, nodding to the school stairway.

Glancing up, she saw Landon. He was staring at her, his eyes piercing her strangely.

Giving a small wave, she beckoned him over. If he was ready to talk after his camping trip, she figured he would answer her call.

He did.

"How was camping?" she asked.

"Good," he answered.

"Lots of time to think?" she asked.

"Yes."

"About us?" she asked, not used to him giving such short answers. Was this an omen of the conversation to come? Was he giving up on them completely?

"Yes."

"So...?" She couldn't keep this conversation up if he wasn't going to give her anything. Lizzie and MG had given her privacy to talk to him but she was kind of wishing they were back just so she wasn't searching for something to say.

"How about a picnic?" he asked suddenly. "Say, twelve o'clock?"

"Oh...kay," she said. A picnic sounded nice, assuming she could get away from her captors.

"Lizzie?"

"Oh yeah, sure," Lizzie said, clearly not giving as much privacy as she thought. The blonde looked at Landon. "I shall relinquish 'Hope Duty' to you for lunch. But only lunch," she looked back at Hope with a warning. "Make sure you return her straight to me, Frodo," she said to Landon.

Landon nodded slowly, staring strangely at the blonde.

"Meet you at the front doors?" Hope asked.

"Yes."

She nodded. She followed Lizzie to her next class, but she kept glancing back at Landon. He was staring at her, still with that piercing gaze.

When she met up with him later, he seemed a little more at ease. Maybe he was just nervous about seeing her again? Whatever the reason, he was there with an actual picnic basket under his arm. She smiled and followed him to whatever destination he planned.

While she was glad he wanted to talk, she had grown more and more uncertain about him in the time he was away. Were his feelings as strong as she thought they were? Were _hers_? Or were her own feelings based on the version of epic love she imagined for years? She couldn't forget his response when she reminded him she was part vampire...would he still love her when she activated that part of herself?

He found a spot in the wide open. There was nothing cozy about it, just grass in an empty field. Guess he didn't think they would need the shade from a tree or something? He sat down the basket and took out a traditional checkered picnic blanket.

She laughed, "Where in the world did you find that?"

"The kitchen."

"I wonder which teacher it belongs to," she asked. "Who do you think?"

He shrugged, unfolding the cloth and laying it out for them.

"Dorian is kind of a romantic, isn't he?" she said. "Maybe it's his."

He picked up the basket and placed it in the middle of the blanket, motioning for her to sit on one side.

"So, a picnic," she said. "That's new."

He opened the basket on the same side he took the blanket out of and pulled out a container of grapes.

"Grapes? Definitely going for that whole 'picnic' vibe," she said. "I hope you brought more than that, because I'm starving."

"Sandwich?" he said, pulling out a couple of wrapped packages.

"Perfect," she said, reaching for one.

She ate in silence, wondering when he was going to talk. Thus far, he was just as quiet as he was earlier. The one sentence answers were getting old.

"You're not talking," she said.

He tossed a grape in his mouth and shrugged.

"I thought you wanted to talk," she pressed again.

" _HOPE!_ "

Hearing her name yelled, she looked across the empty field. Was that... _Clarke?_

He was coming toward them and he had a gun raised, pointed at Landon.

She jumped to her feet and tried to block Landon. "What are you doing!?"

Before she could even think to use a spell to get the gun away from him, a speeding blur ran into her and she was suddenly yards away from the picnic.

"MG?" she shrieked. "Let me go!"

She heard three gunshots and looked back in shock. _Clarke had shot Landon?! Why!_

"CLARKE! Stop—"

The explosion shocked the hell out of her.

Stumbling back into MG, she stared at the remains of the picnic.

Or, rather what was left of the picnic basket, on her side.

If Clarke and MG had been any later...

She'd be dead.


	13. A Little Birdie Told Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

**_Five days ago..._ **

He missed her, damn it.

He had been away from her for roughly an hour now, and all he wanted to do was know what she was thinking. He spent weeks living through her. He knew how to live without her—he had done it for over eight hundred years.

He just didn't want to.

Driving down an old dirt path, he found the hidden entrance he was looking for.

After his run in with the Sphinx and leaving the cemetery, he made a beeline for the vehicle he hid in the woods on campus during his turn as Vardemus. He needed something at the ready in case anything went wrong and he had to get away. Fortunately, it hadn't been discovered in the weeks since his cover fell through and he failed in his mission. Unfortunately, it hadn't been started all semester so the battery was dead. He had a portable jump starter for that very reason.

The entire time his mind was plagued, wondering what was happening in that mausoleum, speculating as to whether the vampire was subdued, doubting his own actions, and contemplating how long it would take before she found him as she said.

Knowing the Sphinx's last prophecy had been carried through, save the final line which would undoubtedly play out eventually, he obeyed the first line in his own foretelling.

_Follow the path directed._

He had been told, by Hope, to _leave_. She assured him she would be fine, and that she would find him.

She _would_ find him.

He just had to be patient.

She would probably demand an explanation about the Greasley boy before making sure he upheld his end of their bargain with the merge information.

After that...he didn't know where to go from there.

He parked on the backside of a secluded cabin, one purchased under a false identity upon his last return from Malivore.

His entire life had been lived in the shadow of his father. His very reason for being was to carry on his father's legacy, but he came out wrong. Flawed. He had no real purpose, so he tried to find one. Spurned by the rejection, he turned against his father and had him imprisoned. But, still, he carried on his _father's_ purpose, ridding this world of all the monsters and magical creatures save the protected species. It was the only part of his father's legacy he _could_ see through. He understood why his father was originally created, to protect everyone else. He tried to fit into the human world, but he would never be one of them. Just like he would never be like anyone else.

When the humans began to use his father for another purpose than that which he was created for, he didn't know what his _own_ purpose was anymore. He didn't want to be a part of this perversion of his own legacy. What he really wanted was to be wanted. He wanted his father's love and acceptance. And if he couldn't have that, then what really was the whole point?

Returning to his father turned into his own personal hell. Imprisoned himself now, in a sea of endless darkness, he was more alone than he had ever been before. His father was unforgiving and uncaring. He made a mistake by returning to his father. There was no escape. And the pit definitely wasn't the best thing for his sanity.

Finding the key where he hid it, he let himself in and flicked the switch on the wall.

Eventually though, his father had spit him out. Knowing this was no mercy, he was driven by his terror. His father was too powerful to contain forever. Within time, he would rise and if Clarke wasn't on board, his father would make him pay the price. So he sought out his new purpose. Clearly his father wouldn't have released him unless he needed him to complete a task.

He would take care of his father's enemies—the most apparent one being Triad—who still continued to use the pit for their own objectives. He didn't care about anyone or anything besides himself and pleasing his father at that point. Taking a life didn't even bother him, not if it was necessary to meet his goals.

So how does one take down a secret government organization that had been around before said government was even formed? Why did such a thing even exist? It existed because Triad was a legacy too—passed down generation after generation, some of whom infiltrated the government so it could carry on its covert operation and assist the government with problems they had little hope of dealing with on their own. Taking down Triad meant taking down the legacy and the ones it would be passed down to. If there was no one left to believe in the cause, there would be no one left to cause a problem for his father once he returned to his solid state.

He joined their ranks again. He needed access to the pit, and he needed access to the Triad members. He couldn't be obvious about it. If the members and their families all started dying, they would notice and be on alert. He took his time. Time was the one luxury he had because he didn't think there was a timetable. He even got creative and cut off the bloodlines completely by orchestrating the transition from human to vampire for a few—hence the Greasley kid. He actually took pleasure in that one. Veronica Greasley lorded over Triad as if she was the one who created it. Her arrogance could be as annoying as her perceived authority over him. Arranging for her only son to be turned into one of the creatures she spent her entire life despising was much more satisfying than permanent death could ever be.

Looking around, he decided the first order of business before nightfall was to create a new identity for himself. If the Greasley kid remembered seeing him, that meant he was probably on the government's radar once again. Pity that. Ryan Clarke was his favorite.

It wasn't until he saw footage of the knife being tossed into the pit that he realized he had less time than he thought. One of the locks to his father's prison had been found and activated. Those locks could only be activated by Malivore's blood. Clearly his father had been busy with his own task while Clarke was completing his. Who had activated the key? Another child perhaps? Unfortunately, Triad was on red alert because of it. They knew about the keys, their forefathers had been the ones to pay the witches to create and hide them. Now they needed to find them before Malivore did. That their goals coincided with his own made his job much easier. He simply had to wait until Triad found the keys then make sure they found their way into the pit.

It wasn't until he saw the photo of Seylah and Landon floating on the pit, a silent message from his father, that he knew dear ole dad had found a way to reproduce biologically. This Landon, born and grown from child to teenager, was the perfect child his father always wanted to carry on his legacy.

His purpose was suddenly clear. Pave the way for his father to return and find this new son so Malivore could walk the earth never fearing death.

Everything would've worked out perfectly if it hadn't been for one loophole none of them saw coming.

Hope.

Suddenly he thought there might really be a way to destroy his father, something he never thought was possible. The end of his father meant an end to the terror. He didn't want to be afraid anymore.

Of course, Hope being Hope, she had to have the last word, so she dragged him along with her. The terror he felt as he returned to the pit consumed him.

Somehow, miraculously, things were different. She didn't destroy the pit, but she changed it. He wasn't alone as he had been before. She was with him.

He understood immediately that his father was trying to expel her. He was spit out himself once before, he knew what the glowing blue cyclone meant. He latched onto her, hoping to hitch a ride out of this eternal darkness. When that didn't work, he gave her a bogus story that the vortex would kill her. He needed to find a way out and she was the only way...also, if she left, well, he would be alone again. He couldn't bare the thought.

When begging her to help him didn't work, in desperation and anger, he begged his father once more, vowing to destroy her. He would do it for his father, and he would do it for himself. She abandoned him and yes, she hurt his feelings. Her performing that comfort spell for him, one of the only acts of kindness given to him by someone who knew his true nature, gave him hope that maybe she really would help him. He was wrong.

Tomorrow he would pick up any supplies he didn't already have and load the SUV. He didn't know what would happen once she found him, but he had to be ready for any eventuality.

Returning to earth and finding the Fort Worth Triad base dormant wasn't a surprise. The headless horseman had killed pretty much everyone on duty and the pit was gone. While there were still plenty of things out there that went bump in the night to cover up, they didn't need to base their operations in Georgia anymore. He _was_ surprised that their storage facility was still in place. But they probably figured they didn't need to bother moving that, as most of the artifacts were safely hidden away there.

Raiding the storage facility for anything he thought might be needed in his upcoming mission to destroy the tribrid would've been simple if his body hadn't started breaking down. Cursing his father for finding another loophole to ensure he really _was_ the bad guy, he had to kill one of the guards on duty in the most disgusting way possible.

Armed with items from Triad storage coupled with some of the more important things he himself had collected over the years meant he was ready to take down the tribrid _and_ save himself. And he knew of a school filled with witches he would be able to manipulate into helping. His intent was to pose as some sort of teacher, but upon his arrival in town he discovered a new headmaster was about to take over. What better way to infiltrate the Salvatore school than by running it?

Manipulating the witches had been easy, he even brought along a device to help clear the effects of the black magic for them—he hadn't wanted his actions to be obvious by having a bunch of teenage girls running around overwhelmed by black magic. He just had to make sure at least one of them had enough power to do the spell he really wanted, and to do it without questioning his motives. Josie Saltzman came through.

Of course, everything fell apart once again because Hope Mikaelson was not to be trifled with. He could laugh now, thinking back, at his own arrogance in believing he would take her down.

Reuniting with her, after she imprisoned him, was bittersweet. Eight centuries later and he was finally going to meet his end. At least he would break his father's connection to this world in doing so. For his last day on earth, it wasn't that bad. Hope took his wish for an actual Christmas in stride. Even when he summoned the Krampus in hopes he had been sent by his father to help him, it was she who showed up and saved him.

He realized he had been in the wrong about her. While it hurt, her leaving him in Malivore, she hadn't left him to spite him. She was just a champion to her friends first. He was jealous of everything she had and wished he had it for himself. Knowing he would be dead within minutes, he found the only person he wanted to talk to was her. She was the only person he actually _could_ call. The only person he had ever made a real connection with as his true self.

Waking up in her dreams and finding that he was linked to her wasn't a hardship for him. In the following weeks, he learned all there was to know about Hope Mikaelson. Somehow he became one of the friends she championed for. Somehow she made him feel things he didn't understand but didn't mind. Somehow she made him want her any way he could have her.

So, when he tried to think about what would come next, what was his purpose _now_?

All he could see was her.

* * *

The next day came all too quickly since he decided to pass the time by sleeping the night before. He didn't need to, but he wanted to. He was curious. Spending time in Hope's subconscious had changed him, made him see the world differently and shown him emotions that he had never felt. He wondered if his experience would grant him the ability to dream.

It didn't.

Waking up to a brand new day with no Hope in sight made him disgruntled.

_What was taking her so long?_

He needed to head to a town for supplies. He figured if she had already used a locator spell, she could be on her way. He left a note to let her know he would be back soon.

There was a town closer to his location than Mystic Falls that wouldn't cause any trouble and should have everything he wanted. The two most important items were burner phones and a sketchpad.

Returning mid-afternoon to find that she still hadn't arrived was disappointing. But he went along with his plans of loading the vehicle.

When night fell, he sat down with the sketchpad and began recreating his life's history once more. He promised himself he would do that once he got his body back. If he died without it, then his life really would've meant nothing. There would be no proof that he ever existed in the first place.

He tried again that night to dream. Hope didn't have a dream every night, and sometimes she would have a dream but the rest of the night would be spent dreamless. Even if tonight proved fruitless once again, it still would pass the time until she showed up.

Day three without Hope dawned and with it, so did his uneasiness.

He left her in a weakened state in the presence of a vampire that had lost control. He only did what she told him to do. She and the blonde had things under control when he left. Things should've calmed down, not escalated.

But he didn't really know for sure and that bothered him.

He left the same note in case she got there before he came back.

Slipping on his leather jacket and heading out to Mystic Falls, he figured he would use the same payphone he last used so he didn't waste a burner phone. Plus, he would be nearby if she wanted to meet.

"Yo, what's up?"

"I'm calling for Hope Mikaelson," he said, holding his breath. _If she wasn't okay..._

"She's busy, man. I can take a message?"

 _Busy. Right. Okay._ So she wasn't dead, or dying. She was just...busy.

He hung up.

No use leaving a message when she already knew she was supposed to find him. And he wasn't giving his location to a random kid over the phone.

He hung around Mystic Fall's town square for a bit. Maybe Hope just couldn't get to him at his location. He didn't even know if she could drive. Shaking his head, he laughed at himself. She probably thought he would be closer to the school. He was just so paranoid, he wanted to be prepared. The Sphinx had also warned of endless foes. He needed to get ahead of that.

He eventually settled into a table outside the Mystic Grill with a good vantage point of the entire area. Hopefully he would get lucky and she would show up.

Ordering a burger and fries, he gave the menu back to the waitress then paused. He felt like he was being watched. Was it her?

Glancing around, moving his head as little as possible, he noticed a woman standing across the street in a dark purple power suit. Her blonde hair was cut short in a no-nonsense style that required little effort. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes seemed to be trained on him.

Tensing, he kept an eye on her from afar which was the only reason he was surprised when a shadow fell over him, catching him unaware.

"You have some nerve," Alaric said, glaring at him.

Clarke smirked, taking in the woman standing with the headmaster in full uniform. As long as the sheriff was present, the older man would have to behave so there would be no repeat fist to the face like the last time Alaric lost his cool with him.

"Good to see you again, old chap," he said in his best British accent, grinning devilishly.

If Alaric's face got much redder, he might explode. He clearly wasn't happy to learn that Hope had helped him get his body back.

"Sheriff, what's your stance on grown adult males who prey on young girls?" Alaric asked the woman while staring daggers at Clarke.

Clarke pressed his lips together in amusement. "The girl in question being eighteen and an adult as well, I imagine that hardly fazes her."

"She's not the only one I'm referring to," Alaric clenched his jaw and shifted as though he might make a move on Clarke.

Sheriff Mac put a hand on Alaric's shoulder as a gentle reminder to calm down. "Ric, if there are any charges that need to be made..."

Clarke raised his eyebrows with a knowing look, daring the man to go that far. He never laid a hand on Josie Saltzman and Alaric knew it. He was just pissed his daughter had messed with black magic and it nearly consumed her. Try explaining _that_ in a court of law.

Alaric shook his head. "That won't be necessary."

The waitress interrupted to set his food on the table.

"That's okay, Sarah," Sheriff Mac said, staying the girl's hand. "He was just leaving. Take it back and put it on my tab."

The girl immediately went away, not questioning the sheriff.

Clarke raised his hands in question. _Hey?_

"Mister...?" Sheriff Mac began.

"Clarke. Ryan Clarke," Alaric provided.

"Mister Clarke," the Sheriff continued. "I think it would be best if you left Mystic Falls. And don't come back."

"Is that a warning?" he asked, still amused by the entire exchange though annoyed he was missing out on his lunch. Couldn't he have gotten it to go?

"It's whatever you want it to be," the Sheriff said. "Just know if I see you again, you won't be happy."

Seeing the expectant look on her face, he sighed and stood. There was no use drawing any more attention from local law enforcement. If she logged his name, Triad could pick up on it and he would be on the run.

Of course, Alaric had to have the last word.

Stepping close to Clarke as he walked by, Alaric said between clenched teeth, "She's not coming for you. Stay away from Hope. And that _is_ a warning."

His smirking smile turned to a glare, but he kept going.

That was a lie. She was coming for him. She _would_ find him.

She was just taking her time doing it.

It wasn't until he started the drive back to the cabin that he remembered the woman who was staring at him earlier. He wished he took the time to find out who she was.

* * *

Feeling his anger start to cool, Alaric looked at Mac, "Thanks."

"If he causes anymore trouble..."

"You'll be the first to know," Alaric said with his forced fake smile. If that arrogant ass caused anymore trouble, _he_ would handle it himself.

That guy would be back, he was certain. Hope may have called them friends, but after the exchange he just had he was pretty sure Agent Clarke didn't see her that way.

"Thanks for your help this morning," she said.

He nodded grimly. The Mayor had told her to get his help with a new case, one that baffled the locals. He expected bite marks or loss of blood. Instead he had gotten something quite different.

A woman, Kennedy Brenner, had contacted the sheriff's department because she had a room in her house filled with furniture she didn't recognize. There were pictures of another woman who bore a striking resemblance to Ms. Brenner. Pictures of them together too—vacationing, celebrating birthdays. There were even photos of them with her parents.

Kennedy was afraid she had amnesia and forgot the person living with her, but she didn't know where the person had gone. She went through papers she found in the room and found that the missing woman was named Megan Brenner. Did she have a sister she had forgotten? She called her parents who didn't know the missing person either, but they _did_ have the same photos. She called the local sheriff's department as a last resort. Should she file a missing person's report? Was someone missing if she couldn't even remember they existed? How come it seemed her entire family had come down with the same amnesia?

The only reason the mayor had gotten involved was because Kennedy Brenner was his secretary. Matt knew nothing in Mystic Falls was ever as it seemed. He directed the new sheriff to contact Alaric Saltzman.

So now Alaric had to figure out how to create a plausible explanation for the sheriff without revealing the supernatural world to her. He also needed to figure out when Megan Brenner had gone missing. Was it within the past few days, or was it before the girls closed the portal? Kennedy had no idea, of course, but if it was before, why would The Necromancer toss a human into the pit? He was only raising monsters out of it, not putting humans into it.

Either way, it sounded like Megan Brenner was one missing person they would never find.

"I'll see what I can suss out and let you know," he said.

"Do you have any theories?" she asked. "Is it some kind of mysterious illness? Is that why the mayor told me to bring you in, _doctor_?"

"Not that kind of doctor," he gave a tight smile.

"Let me know when you find something," she said. "I feel sorry for Kennedy. I know what it's like to lose a sister."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. He didn't remember reading about a sister when he researched her, but if she said she had one then she did...and apparently lost her.

"Thank you," she said.

"I need to get back now," he excused himself.

"Of course."

Bidding her goodbye, he headed toward his vehicle but was stopped along the way.

"You run the Salvatore school, correct?"

Turning, he took in a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, thirty at the most, with short blonde hair and a smart dark purple pant suit.

"I do," he nodded.

"I'd like to talk to you about enrolling my son," the woman said.

"I can give you my card and we can meet at the school?" he offered. He reached for his wallet to pull out the card. He was _really_ desperate to get back to the school. Knowing Clarke was around made him worry even more.

"It's just that...I know yours is a school for children with special gifts," she continued. "I wonder if your place is the right fit for him."

"What sort of gift does he have?" He never came right out and listed the specific species of supernatural, just in case this was a random human looking to enroll their child in boarding school.

"I'm not sure I should say," she said. "He's not a witch, werewolf, or vampire."

Nodding since now he knew she was legit, he answered, "We've recently begun to accept other supernatural creatures as well. Fairies, phoenixes, we're really open to helping the species learn to co-exist peacefully."

"Phoenix? Really?" she asked. "I didn't know those exist."

"Yep," he nodded. "Come to the school and we can talk about getting your son enrolled." He held out the card for her.

"Would I get to meet the other species as well?" she asked. "I'm concerned since I don't know much about fairies and phoenixes. Will they be safe for my son to be around?"

Alaric smiled. "Safer than the other three species, that's for sure. Now, I can arrange for our fairy to give you a tour of the school after our meeting. Our phoenix, though, just went camping for a couple days so unfortunately you'll miss him. But, trust me. He's the least dangerous creature you will ever meet."

She nodded, taking the card. "Thank you."

"My pleasure. Hope to hear from you soon. What was your name again?"

"Evelyn. Evelyn Scott."

* * *

After another dreamless sleep, Clarke woke to his fourth day without Hope and his impatience was getting out of hand.

Why hadn't she found him yet? Was she even trying to find him? Was Alaric telling the truth? He was positive that was a lie, that Alaric was just blowing smoke at him to get him to leave. Alaric didn't want him near Hope, so he would say anything to make him give up.

Surely Hope or the twin, Lizzie, had told Alaric that he was offering the merge information they needed. If Alaric was acting this way, maybe he didn't want Clarke's knowledge on the subject...and if he didn't, then maybe Hope didn't want to get it from him anymore. Was that really all he was worth to her now that he wasn't linked to her?

But, no. They were friends. She said it herself. And if there's one thing he knew about her, she was always there for her friends. She wouldn't just ignore him...but there was that bit before where he knew he scared her. Maybe knowing that he wanted her cancelled out their friendship in her mind? And then there was the whole thing with the Greasley kid. Did she hate him now because of that? The kid must've told her what he remembered happening.

Though, when originally confronted with the truth, her first instinct had been to save him. She jumped in front of him without a second thought. He didn't know if he had been recreated with a body that was immortal yet again, but he very nearly had to put it to the test that day. She didn't let that happen.

He didn't know what to do, and he hated that. Should he keep waiting? Should he try to show up at the school? If Alaric was there, he could call the sheriff on him and Clarke did _not_ want to open that can of worms. Should he try to call again?

He wished the Sphinx had been a bit more forthcoming.

_Follow the path directed and heed the warning tweeted._

He had followed the bloody path and he didn't want to follow it anymore. What was the warning tweeted?

Yesterday Alaric gave him a warning to stay away from Hope. Was that the warning the Sphinx was referring to? It didn't make any sense, and he definitely wasn't going to heed _that_ warning.

He even used his laptop to create an account on the inane social media platform, Twitter. That was the only thing to come to mind with the word 'tweeted'. He spent months in the presence of adolescents; he had picked up a thing or two...unfortunately.

Frustrated, he went back to working in his sketchpad.

 _One more day._ _I'll give her one more day._

If she didn't find him today, he would go searching for her at the school tomorrow, consequences be damned.

* * *

_My time draws near. The youngest would be the one. Finally, after all these years, victory is within reach, freedom is within reach._

_Ultimate power is within reach._

_The youngest is completely unsuspecting now as he goes off on his own. He will not return to his companion._

_I will._

_Collecting the knowledge needed to set the mind of the werewolf at ease was easy enough, a simple matter of observation put into action._

_As easy as taking the supplies I needed from a hapless demolition expert and disposing of her into my endless void._

_As easy as speaking with the headmaster of the children's school to retrieve vital information on my son's whereabouts._

_The true test would be my next goal upon taking my true form._

_I need to rid the world of my enemies, anyone who can do me harm._

_And I need to start with the tribrid._

_The other boy, the one who long has insisted on calling me 'father' despite my rejection of him, had failed to take care of her just as he has failed at everything else I ever demanded from him. From his initial creation, he has failed me. Pity the one thing he inherited was his inability to die. Otherwise, he wouldn't have existed long enough to cause so much trouble._

_I need to be careful with the tribrid. She was clever and one wrong word could tip her off. There can be no margin for error. I can't do anything to give myself away._

_I wanted to smite the other boy when I saw him yesterday, send him screaming back to the endless darkness that terrified him so. But tipping my hand too soon would cause trouble, especially since I'm stuck in this puny human body._

_Once I have my true form, there will be no hesitation. All I want dead shall perish. All I want imprisoned shall know the terror of endless darkness. The tribrid and the other boy were at the top of the list of each._

"Excuse me, can you help me?"

Landon looked up from his search for loose twigs to pile on the fire.

"Uh, yes? I mean, are you okay? You aren't really dressed for the woods?" Landon noticed some dirt stains on the dark purple material. "Are you lost?"

"I think I twisted my ankle," Evelyn said. "Yes, I'm lost." Feigning pain, she leaned against a tree and looked down at the ankle in question.

Landon, ever the gentleman, quickly offered his arm. "Lean on me, I'll get you back to my campsite and my friend can help carry you back to wherever you should be."

Purple lightning graced the air as Evelyn took his arm, transferring the essence into the youngest without any warning.

Landon raised his hand in a circular motion. A black portal opened in the ground. The confused person of Evelyn Scott was unceremoniously pushed into the darkness.

_Now for the next task—destroy the tribrid._

* * *

Sketching helped take his mind off his frustration. As the night wore on, Clarke could feel his impatience rising to the surface again.

He would give the sleep thing one last try. Passing the time by shutting the thoughts off would keep him from going to the school in the middle of the night. He told himself he wouldn't go until _tomorrow_. He just had to get through tonight first. Who knew, maybe she would show up and wake him with a swift kick to the head.

Falling into a deep sleep wasn't all that difficult. He simply cleared his mind and focused on the nothingness within.

Slipping into the deep, his thoughts quieted and his dreamless sleep began...

"Clarke?!" There was a scoff of laughter. "I should've known. Only took four days to show your true colors this time."

Clarke whipped his head around and was shocked and disgusted to see the _last_ person he _ever_ wanted to dream of.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he demanded to know.

"Me?" Landon asked. "This is all _your_ doing, why don't you tell me?"

"Screw this," Clarke said, jerking awake.

Sitting up quickly, dawn shining through the window, he gripped his fists and felt the overwhelming urge to hit something. Was that a nightmare? Of course his first dream would be a nightmare, one complete with his stupid little brother, the loser bird who intruded upon every single thing Clarke wanted in his life.

Was this the universe playing tricks on _him_ now? First, the girl he wanted was nowhere to be seen, then the riddle he couldn't solve, and now his brother appeared to him in a dream.

Why doesn't _he_ go heed the friggin warning? Maybe he would figure out what the hell 'tweets' with his stupid bird-brain.

 _Oh_.

Birds...they tweeted. _Crap_.

Biting the inside of his mouth at the ridiculousness of it all, he laid back down. He had to go back to sleep for this.

Clearing his mind, he sunk back into the nothingness.

He didn't see Landon this time. Rolling his eyes that now _he_ would have to search for him, he hollered, "Landon!"

After what seemed like forever, and a few more calls, he appeared.

"Why are you here?" Clarke asked.

"I've been trying everything I can to reach someone, call out for help," Landon said. "If I'd known it was you who would answer the call, I wouldn't have bothered."

" _How_ are you here?" Clarke tried again. Little brother needed to get to the point before he tore his head off. Could he do that in his dreams? _I wonder..._

"Don't you know?" Landon asked, for the first time wondering if maybe Clarke really wasn't involved in this. "Malivore."

Clarke's eyes widened and a chill ran up his spine.

Seeing the look on his brother's face, Landon continued with his explanation. "There was this woman, in the woods. Blonde hair, purple outfit. I tried to help her and then nothing."

Clarke remembered the woman from yesterday. He was _that_ close to his father and hadn't even known it.

"You really knew nothing about this?" Landon asked.

Clarke shook his head. The last thing he wanted was for his father to rise. He was done with helping him.

"She trusts you, she calls you a friend," Landon said, knowing he would know to whom he was referring. "Was it a mistake for her to do that?"

"No," Clarke denied firmly.

"Then you need to get to the school," the phoenix insisted. "I don't know what he's thinking or what he's planning, everything's been a blank since he took over; but when the transition was happening, I felt one thing for sure. He wants her dead. He's going to go after _her_. And she won't have any idea."

"I'll take care of it," Clarke said, eyes growing cold. The fear was very real.

Landon nodded. "You were linked to her when I gave her the golden arrow, right? Do you know where she put it?"

Clarke gave a small nod in reply.

"Get it," Landon said, firmly. " _Use_ it."

"You do realize that will kill you," Clarke said. He didn't really care, he would do it, but if his brother was giving him permission to kill him, he wanted him to say it.

"Yes, I know," Landon said. "Kill him—kill _me_ —before he kills her."

"I'll take care of it," Clarke said again. "But, if this doesn't work? Don't ever show up in my dreams again." He said he didn't know anything Malivore was doing since the body swap, so there was no reason for Landon to bother him ever again.

"If this doesn't work," Landon said. "We're all doomed."

* * *

Clarke woke with renewed purpose.

It was late morning now, close to eleven o'clock.

Ever the master of disguise, he dressed in the outfit he picked out yesterday that would pass as a janitor's uniform at the Salvatore school. Grabbing his sketchbook, sunglasses, a hat, and a gun, he left. He needed to get to the school as quickly as possible.

He remembered the name of one of the janitors so he used it to get through the front gate, pretending to have forgotten his pass. He parked in regular employee parking so as not to be conspicuous, and removed his sunglasses.

Trying to draw as little attention as possible, he made a beeline for her room. She wasn't there and, thankfully, neither was Alyssa. He went straight for her makeup and searched for the lip gloss. He remembered she had specifically made it the color of rose gold.

Cursing when he couldn't find it, he started searching everywhere. She must've changed its appearance and hiding spot once they were unlinked. He didn't blame her. It was her responsibility to keep it safe from everyone, including him. He knew it could be anything at this point, but he still searched, trying to remember everything that was there before. Was there anything new? He started searching through her dresser drawers. Maybe she hid it in one of those? Sifting through each of them, he paused when he heard something hit the wood.

His ring. _Well, that'll be helpful_.

He pulled off the hat, stuffing it in his back pocket, and put the ring on making himself invisible to continue the search.

It was no use, he couldn't find anything new. She could've put an invisibility spell on it by now, not just a glamour. He felt like he was running out of time. If he couldn't find the arrow, then getting to her and making sure she knew about the danger was the next most important thing.

Alyssa came in right as he was about to leave. Luckily the ring hid him from view. He left as quietly as he could, but then he raced for the stairs. He needed to find her _now_.

Arriving in the main hall, he saw someone he wanted to avoid even though he was invisible. He headed in the opposite direction from the Greasley kid but still found himself suddenly pushed against a wall. _How did he know?_

"I know you're here," MG said, grimacing. "Show yourself."

Exasperated and more than a little panicked, he bent one of the fingers on his left hand to touch the top of the ring on his left ring finger. "How'd you know?"

"I could hear your heartbeat," MG said. He knew Clarke used an invisibility ring to hide so he could attack Hope before. Everyone in the know was on high alert from Doctor Saltzman in case Clarke showed up again. Clarke was lucky Lizzie was at lunch while MG was heading to the kitchen for blood or he would have to deal with one pissed off witch too.

"You're not going to try to kill me, are you?" Clarke asked. He really didn't have time for that.

"I should!" MG glared, pushing him again before finally stepping back. "Because of you I nearly killed Hope! She didn't wake up for two days!"

 _That explains some things._ Closing his eyes against the flare of dread, the urgency to find her was even greater now. Was she still weak?

"Where is Hope now?" he asked.

"She went on a picnic with Landon," MG said, "So if you think—"

 _Of course she did_ , rolling his eyes at the pang he felt. He interrupted the vampire, "Listen to me, MG, you don't want Hope to die right?"

MG nodded, frowning at his words.

"Malivore is here," Clarke said. "If we don't find her right now, she _will_ die."

"How do you know?" MG asked, alarmed.

"I just know," Clarke said. "Help me find her." It wouldn't hurt to have a vampire along.

MG nodded again. "I can get the others?" he pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"There's no time," Clarke said.

"Okay then..." MG said, "Just...follow me."

Grateful that something was going right, he stuck the ring in his pocket and followed.

When they finally found them, he could see them sitting in a clearing. He needed to get within shooting distance, and he needed to get her out of the way.

"At my signal, get her as far away as possible," he told MG, while pulling out his gun and releasing the safety.

"Where's Malivore?" MG asked, looking around.

"In Landon."

MG looked at him, shock on his face.

"At my signal," Clarke repeated before leaving the cover of the trees and entering the clearing.

Neither of them noticed him which he was grateful for. When he was almost close enough to get off an accurate shot, he yelled her name, "Hope!"

She squinted at him and called back, "Clarke?"

Seeing the gun, she stood and tried to block Landon. "What are you doing!?"

He kept his eyes on Landon though, who was lounging like he had all the time in the world. Whatever his plan was, Malivore didn't care that Clarke was there, which meant it was going to happen at any minute...whatever _it_ was.

Hope needed to be out of the way _now_.

"Now," he whispered knowing MG would hear it.

MG rushed to grab Hope and was out of the way in the blink of an eye.

As soon as she was clear, he shot Landon three times. Whatever was about to happen, he didn't need his father taking flight. The wide open field left plenty of space for him to fly up unencumbered by the trees.

"Clarke! Stop—"

Then the explosion went off.

He instinctively flinched back and covered his head. Fortunately the explosion was pretty much contained to one area. Even Landon had gotten hit. That was probably the point. Malivore could sit quietly by Hope giving no warning while the bomb was going off and not worry because he was a phoenix now. He would rise again, while Hope wouldn't have a prayer.

Clarke noticed something coming from the trees far past the picnic area. Cursing, he went to her. She was in a state of shock, still staring at the picnic remains.

"I need to get her out of here," he told MG.

"MG..." she said quietly, slowly processing what was happening. Landon wouldn't have tried to kill her, but... Malivore would. _No_. "You need to warn the school."

MG looked between her and Clarke, not sure what to do now.

"Get to the school," Clarke reinforced her instructions. He needed to get Hope away and he didn't want the Greasley kid to do anything to prevent that. "But don't look beyond the picnic remains."

Deliberately not looking, MG asked, "Why not?"

"You won't remember that they're there, and you could forget this entire thing even happened," Clarke explained.

_Protected in lost recollections, endless foes will hunt the littlest wolf._

Hope looked at the three monsters advancing. She glanced at Clarke in alarm.

"What are you going to do?" MG asked.

"They're after her so—" he replied.

"I need to get away," she realized suddenly. "Away from the school."

"Let's go," Clarke grabbed her hand and tugged her along. They needed to get out of there before the monsters reached them and before the phoenix rose again.

MG shot off to do as he was told.

They made it to the vehicle in record time and he drove off, keeping an eye out for any creatures that may have given chase.

"Can you cloak us?" he asked.

"I'll try," she said. Concentrating, she cast the spell. "I think it worked."

"You think?" he asked, concerned that she wasn't sure.

"I'm not back to full power yet," she said.

Grimacing, he nodded and hoped for the best.

"How did you know?" she asked softly.

He went silent, thinking. If he told her the truth, she would know Landon was still alive inside Malivore somewhere. She would be less likely to go along with killing him. Which was what Clarke wanted, and it was what _Landon_ wanted. She couldn't know the truth, he decided. She was better off not knowing.

"A little birdie told me," was all he said.


	14. You're Doing It Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

_Malivore is in Landon! Malivore is in Landon!_

She didn't understand how this could happened. When did he rise? How did he get to Landon? They were so careful to close the portal from the monsters. Did they do something wrong? Was he back because of something they did?

Not that any of that mattered now because _Malivore is in Landon_! That was the one thing she swore she would never let happen. She was supposed to stop this. She was the loophole that could destroy Malivore. Why hadn't she done it when she had the chance?

 _How_ were they going to defeat Malivore now? And how _did_ Clarke know that Malivore was in Landon because his explanation wasn't going to cut it.

"Wait, what?" she asked. " _Who_ told you?"

Sighing because he knew his explanation wasn't going to be enough, Clarke replied, "I ran into the Sphinx in the cemetery."

"He told you this would happen?" she asked with rising ire. "And you waited until _now_ to come!?"

"No," he said ironically. "It just took me this long to figure out that part of the riddle."

"Oh..." she relaxed a little.

"I was waiting for you," he glanced over at her.

"I was a little preoccupied," she answered.

"I noticed," he frowned at her and looked back at the road.

She looked sharply at him. She knew that look and tone.

"Seriously?" She couldn't take this. She huffed and turned to look out the car door window, glaring at the glass in frustration.

She nearly died twice in the past five days, and her boy—ex-boyfriend had been taken over by his father. Add to that all the steps she had taken to actually do as she _said_ she would and find Clarke, the very _last_ thing she wanted to deal with right now was his jealousy over her taking the time to go on a picnic with Landon.

He hated that he didn't know what she was thinking anymore. He watched her get lost in her thoughts earlier, and now she was tuning him out completely. He knew what the vampire said, that she had been out for two days, but that left three days since and he hadn't heard a word. He spent his time waiting for her and she was going on a picnic with his father in his brother's meat suit.

Arguing with her wasn't going to get them anywhere, so he swallowed the hurt—he had been doing it all his life, right?—and tried to smooth things over.

"Hey," he said softly to get her attention. It seemed to work since she leaned back to stare at the ceiling instead of out the window. "Help me keep an eye out for trouble. I can't do it all by myself."

Sighing, she nodded. She twisted around in her seat to try to see through the back window. She took in all the stuff he had back there.

"What're in the cases?" she asked, glancing at them before looking out the windows again.

"What do you think?" he laughed.

"More guns?" she asked distastefully.

"Among other things," he replied.

"Really, Clarke?" She was used to magical weapons, or crossbows, or things like axes, swords, giant sticks. Everything else, like guns and explosives, were all human weapons and had no place in her world.

"I don't have any super powers aside from not dying," he said out the side of his mouth. "And even that I'm not sure of since I was brought back."

"But still..."

"It's what I know," he said. It's what he was trained in. He worked as part of Triad's 'clean up crew,' yes, but he knew how to handle himself when the situation called for it. He had to steer clear of any death blows during his service. Hard to explain to a monster hunting organization why he was still alive if a monster plunged its claw into his chest or lobbed his head off.

"Did you bring anything that might actually be useful?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow at her while still watching the road.

" _You_ might find the dark objects more useful," he said with some annoyance. "Oh, and the toothpaste." He mocked.

"Extra toothbrush?" she asked sweetly, just to be even more annoying.

"Of course," he shrugged, furthering the farce.

"A regular boy scout," she teased.

He shook his head and moved to change lanes.

"What else did the Sphinx tell you?" she asked.

"The next line was 'protected in lost recollections, endless foes will hunt the littlest wolf'," he recited. "I assume you're the littlest wolf?"

She nodded. "It's something my father used to call me."

"If you're the littl _est_ then...?" he trailed off with a question.

She smiled. "My mom. She was the little one. He did enjoy his terms of endearment."

"Seems like a protective husband and father," he observed based on the time her father had with them before being separated because of The Hollow.

She laughed loudly at that. "My parents never married. I was an accident. My father didn't even know he _could_ father a child. A thousand years old and suddenly—oops?"

He didn't know that, but then he knew there were a lot of facts he wasn't aware of. He knew her thoughts and any memories she thought of while he took up residence in her mind. When he took over as headmaster at the school he was disappointed to find that her file was gone. That was the file he looked for first, assuming she would show up at the school eventually. Then he recalled her phone call with Alaric while he was pretending to be dead. She told him to burn the files.

"My mom actually fell in love with his brother," she went on to say.

"And your dad didn't have a problem with that?" he asked. He knew _he_ had a problem with her affection for _his_ brother.

"No," she shook her head. "He respected her, and he loved her in his own way. He did anything to protect her because she was my mom."

She turned her head back around to look at the road ahead when he signaled to take an exit to an interstate through West Virginia. "Where are we going?"

"As far away as possible," he answered.

"Weren't you staying some place south of Mystic Falls though?" she asked.

"How did you—?" he started to ask.

"I _did_ do a locator spell to find you," she revealed. "I just needed a little more time to get away. Doctor Saltzman had me on house arrest to keep me away from you."

Now he felt guilty for his reaction earlier.

"We're not going back there," he replied.

"So where are we going then?"

He shrugged. He hadn't thought any of that out. He just knew what was coming and he didn't want to be around for it, and he didn't want _her_ to be around for it.

"Can we go to New Orleans?" she asked. "My aunt could help me figure out a way to defeat Malivore without killing Landon."

Cursing on the inside, he knew that would be a problem. Unless there was definitive proof that Landon no longer existed inside of Malivore, she would try to save him.

"Do you really want to bring what's coming after us to your family?" he asked instead of arguing about his brother.

She fell silent. He was right. She didn't know what this latest development meant. Her family was spread out all over with only Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin in New Orleans, along with her little cousin. She couldn't endanger them, especially when they didn't know enough about Malivore and his plans.

"Why were there three monsters this time instead of one?" she asked.

"The question is, why weren't there _more_ than three," he said. "He's here now and has complete control. The Sphinx said there would be endless foes protected in lost recollections. My father has access to all of the monsters in the pit; he can call forth any or all of them and control them. And no one else except for _us_ will be able to remember them once they do whatever he commands and sends them back in."

"Oh my God," she said, horrified.

"Since he's sending the monsters after you, he must be searching out and destroying any weaknesses," he continued. "He knows you can defeat him. He knows you already _did_ nearly destroy him. So _why_ would he send only three out and not more?"

"Maybe..." she tried to reason it out. "Maybe he couldn't bring out more yet?"

He thought about it and nodded. "Makes sense. The reason he grew weak all those years ago was because his monster supply ran out. His consciousness is in Landon, but the pit has become like a separate entity now, one that he's still connected to. Releasing the monsters and then forcing them back into the pit will only make him stronger."

"So the more he releases, the more he consumes again," she summarized. "The stronger he gets, he can release even _more_."

"Remember the Sphinx' last prophecy? Love is the greatest destroyer of all?" he asked. "If you go to New Orleans now, without knowing more, your _love_ ," he nearly gagged on the word, "for Landon could destroy your family."

"We'll wait," she said. "Let's just...keep driving."

He nodded.

"How long are we supposed to do this though," she asked. "Did the Sphinx say anything else?"

"The next line is 'give thanks in the big crescent'," he recalled.

" _That_ long?" she said, disgruntled. "Do you have any idea how many monsters Malivore will be able to bring forth by Thanksgiving?!"

"Thanksgiving?" he asked.

"Yeah," she sighed, closing her eyes and running a hand through her hair in frustration. "The Big Crescent, that's New Orleans."

"That's weeks away," he said, frowning. He knew what the big crescent was, he just didn't figure out that other part before now. He had been too preoccupied waiting for her. Plus, it wasn't like he ever had a Thanksgiving either.

"I know, October isn't even over yet." She slapped her forehead. "The twins' birthday is tomorrow. Lizzie's going to be so pissed I'm missing it."

"She'll get over it," he said, still trying to wrap his mind around the latest part of the prophecy. He knew getting her away was the best thing, but she was right. There would be way too many monsters by then—unless they could kill them before they were consumed again. Should they really wait until _Thanksgiving_ to stop running though?

If they didn't stick to the prophecy, did that mean the rest wouldn't come to pass?

"Was there anything else to this prophecy?" she asked.

"Just 'slaying the beast requires a sacrifice'," he answered.

"Don't all prophecies require that?" she looked heavenward, even more annoyed.

He didn't tell her the last bit.

_The royal dowry is always and forever._

He didn't know if that last part was meant specifically for him, as a lot of the prophecy just related to her. But, he would spend the next few weeks, or the next few months, _years_ even, running from his father and fighting endless monsters if it meant the final part of the Sphinx prophecy came true for _him_.

He didn't know much about his feelings, but there was one thing he did know.

If it were possible at all, if there was even a chance...

He wanted her to be his always and forever.

* * *

"I guess I should let Aunt Freya know I'll be home for Thanksgiving," she said.

"With a plus one," he said with a smirk.

Shaking her head in exasperation even though she smiled, she searched his glove compartment for a piece of paper and a pen. Finding it, she scrawled a note. She needed to let her aunt know she was okay in case the school contacted her. This way, she would know that and more.

Holding her necklace in one hand, the note in the other, she chanted, " _Vain se message sa a le main sur la vain._ "

The paper went up in flames, quickly burning out, indicating the message was sent.

"It worked," she said happily. "The magic is back in full force!"

"Don't speak too soon," he said, catching a glimpse of something in his rear view mirror. "That cloaking spell must not be strong enough, because we've got company."

"Crap," she said, twisting around. "I don't see it."

"It's not on the ground," he jerked his head up.

"What _is_ it?" she exclaimed, rolling down her window and searching the sky for it.

"Um, flying white horse... it's Pegasus," he realized, kind of fascinated.

"As in, the Magic of Pegasus?" she asked. "Barbie?"

"What?" He squinted at her. "As in a mythological flying horse whose father was apparently Poseidon? You _do_ know who that is, right?"

" _Yes_ ," she said sarcastically. "How do I kill it?!" She kept trying to get a good view out the window but it was too far overhead.

"I don't know! I thought Zeus had turned him into a constellation, but there's no way my father flew up there and consumed a bunch of stars," he said.

"I need a weapon," she said, glancing over her shoulder at his supplies.

"I thought none of that was useful?"

As they watched, Pegasus flew down and placed a hoof on the land right in front of them. Water shot up from the ground in that exact spot when the creature flew away.

Clarke pressed on the break and turned the wheel, just nearly avoiding getting them flipped by the new spring in the middle of the highway. Fortunately there weren't many cars around, and those that were had already pulled over.

"Just shoot it!" she yelled.

" _Now_ you want me to shoot things?" he pulled out the gun anyway. He pulled off to the side of the road; there was no use in trying to outrun it. They had to stop and fight.

He got out, using his side of the car for cover, and immediately tried shooting it even though it wasn't anywhere near shooting distance.

"It's too far away," he said.

"Not for me," she said over top of the car. She jumped down and ran into a clearing, throwing a fire ball at it.

The horse flew out of the way and then somehow returned fire with a huge burning warped golden rod.

Hope dodged out of the way just as it hit the ground with a loud boom and explosion where she had been standing.

"What was that!?" she cried out, coming back to her feet.

"I...think that was a thunderbolt..." he scrambled to remember what he could of the legend. "Zeus gave him the task of carrying his thunderbolts."

"Zeus!? Are you for real?" she formed a fireball with even more power. "How am I supposed to defeat _that_?"

"Just keep fighting it with magic," he said, glad the horse was focused on her and not him. "I'll think of something."

"Right, let me do the hard part," she said, but she didn't hesitate.

She threw everything she could think of at it. Balls of fire, magic bursts. She tried to use her magic to deflect one of the thunderbolts, but it was no match. She rolled out of the way of that one but shot off a massive fireball at Pegasus and managed to _finally_ hit it.

Not that it made the horse do much more than shudder to shake it off.

Clarke caught sight of a feather falling to the ground though. _I know this..._

A feather fell to the ground after Zeus turned Pegasus into a constellation...effectively taming him. The horse, it could be _tamed_.

He walked over and picked up the feather. How does one _tame_ a winged horse?

He looked up and saw that the horse was looking at him now and had stopped throwing thunderbolts at Hope.

"What did you do?" she asked warily.

He motioned for her to wait.

"Come down," he commanded, holding the feather aloft, hoping it would work.

Crazily enough, the horse followed his instruction and landed a few feet from him. No new springs burst forth either when it landed, thankfully.

"Well, that worked..." she said.

He walked forward and Pegasus lowered his head, letting him pet him.

"Be careful," she warned, but even she could see the horse was tamed. "Now what?"

"My father still has control over it," he said. "He could take it back at any moment."

"So we have to kill it," she said, not feeling too happy about it now that it was behaving. "But how?"

"His father was Poseidon," he said. "But his mother was Medusa..."

"Cut off the head?" she asked.

"Cut off the head," he confirmed.

"Got an axe?" she asked, heading back to the SUV.

"Machete."

"Works for me."

* * *

Darkness had long since descended, and she had fallen asleep an hour ago.

Nothing suspicious happened since they defeated Pegasus. They were currently somewhere in Kentucky.

He only stopped once for gas. He didn't want to get much lower than half a tank since he didn't know if he would end up in another situation where they had to run as far and as fast as possible.

It was time to fill up again, he was starving, and she needed real rest. Her magic was doing what it was supposed to, but it wore her out. She never should've let Josie Saltzman take that much.

Finding a motel with a gas station next door complete with an all night convenience shop, he immediately pulled in. He roused her before he went inside.

"Where are we?" she asked sleepily.

"Somewhere in Kentucky," he said. He stepped out of the car, desperately needing to stretch his legs after sitting for so long. "Stay awake," he warned before he shut his door. He couldn't keep an eye on her while he went inside.

She actually listened to him and was wide awake when he came back to fill up the car. Getting inside while shoving a donut in his mouth, he tossed the bag at her.

As she looked through the random snacks, he pulled into the next parking lot over.

She glanced up when she felt the vehicle stop again. "A motel?"

"You need to sleep," was all he said before going to get a room.

Returning quickly with a room keycard, he drove down to the side of the building he had been directed. Parking, he went to the back and pulled out a duffle. Not for the first time, he was grateful for the dark tint on the windows. He glanced around for anything sinister in the shadows, but the lot was actually pretty well lit.

She got out and waited for him to join her. He silently led her to the room and opened the door.

"I need to shower before I go to sleep," she said. "There's dirt and smoke and probably bits of picnic on me."

He set the duffle bag down on the bed closest to the front door and windows.

"Go ahead," he said. He unzipped the duffle and started rifling through the clothes for his travel bag.

"So, boy scout, got anything I can wear?" she said.

He pulled out a t-shirt and held it up for her.

Giving him an amused look, she came over and grabbed a dress shirt out of the bag instead. " _That_ ," she said indicating the t-shirt, "would be completely see-thru."

"Right," he smirked.

Shaking her head, "We're getting me clothes tomorrow," was all she said on the way to the bathroom.

While she showered, he scoped out the room. He made sure the blinds were closed, the locks tight on every window, the deadbolt in place on the front door, and that there was a weapon on either side of the room in case he, or _she_ , needed more than the one he carried on him.

"Got a comb?"

Steeling himself from the image of her in one of his dress shirts that hung to mid-thigh and was tight around the chest, he searched for and found what she asked for.

"Thanks," she said with a smile. She was working at towel drying her hair before combing it.

He needed a minute.

"I'll be...right back," he said and hotfooted it to the bathroom. Sighing, he tried to reel himself in. 

_Don't scare her_ , he reminded himself. That's why he asked for a room with _two_ beds even though he wasn't going to sleep at all. He was going to be the _friend_ he was supposed to be. No pushing. Just _friends_... for now.

Hope worked at combing her hair, wincing when she hit a knot. As she worked her way through it, she looked in the mirror. Her hands came down slowly, staring, making eye contact with herself.

She looked different. She felt different.

She was a world apart from where she had been that morning. That morning, when everything was so much clearer. She thought her biggest problem would be tracking down a mud man or trying to get back together with her boyfriend. Instead, here she was, on the run with that mud man. And Landon was...gone. Hopefully he still existed somewhere inside of himself, but who really knew?

She set the comb down and backed up against a wall.

He was really gone, wasn't he?

She slowly slid down to the carpet, not even realizing what she was doing, she was too overwhelmed. She suppressed her thoughts and feelings all day, trying to keep moving because there was no time to wallow. But now, here she was. Alone, for the first time all day, and it all came rushing back. The picnic, the gun, the bomb, knowing Malivore had risen, running to protect the school...killing a beautiful horse with powerful hooves. It was one thing to kill a monster while it was fighting her but to walk up to Pegasus while it was standing meekly and removing its head? _She_ felt like the monster.

That's how he found her, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, and staring off into space.

He came over and squatted down in front of her. "You know, there are perfectly good seats in this room."

She blinked and looked at him. "But the floor is so comfy."

"It doesn't look it," he glanced down and around. "It's actually kind of drab and stained."

"Are you trying to comfort me again?" she asked when he didn't make a move to stand.

"What are friends for?" he asked. "Why? Am I doing it wrong?"

She closed her eyes and sank back against the wall. She didn't know if she wanted to be comforted. Did monsters even deserve to be comforted?

He hesitated, but then he thought of the memory behind the blue door. When her father had found her in much this same position he had tried to take her in his arms but his arms went right through her. He didn't have that same problem.

"What are you—" She barely had her eyes open before he picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other behind her back.

He didn't say anything, just carried her over and sat her down on her bed. He went to walk away but stopped when she reached out suddenly and grabbed his hand.

"You're doing it right," she said.

With her free hand, she scooted herself over, making space for him. She motioned for him to sit down next to her.

He sat with his back resting against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him. She leaned into his side, resting her head against him.

He dropped his arm around her, uncertain. He had never really comforted someone because he wanted to, and he had never really had someone who _wanted_ him to comfort them. He wasn't used to this but, if this was what she wanted, he didn't have a problem with it.

She knew she shouldn't do this, she didn't want to lead him on, but he _was_ a friend offering comfort...and she was tired of being alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Despite what fandom wiki says, the show appears to have depicted the twins' birthday in October for two years in a row. So I'm going with that._


	15. It's My Birthday, I'll Astral Project If I Want To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"Here."

She took the credit card from him, reading it. "Who is Alex Bennington?"

"Me," Clarke said.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Since _someone_ returned all the memories of me, I had to create a new identity," he explained. "Triad knows Ryan Clarke isn't human now."

"Triad? Aren't they all dead though?" she asked, confused.

He shook his head. "They don't have access to the pit anymore, but they are still the government's answer to cleaning up after the unexplainable. That display yesterday? A flying horse in the middle of the interstate? That's going to draw some attention. They're probably already there investigating. If a witness can provide a good enough description of us? All they need is my name popping up somewhere to put them on our trail."

"So, we're running from Malivore _and_ Triad?" she said, sighing. "Great."

At least she was well rested so she would be ready to kick some monster butt when needed. She couldn't remember the last time she slept that well. Waking up next to Clarke confused her until she remembered what happened. She had been falling apart and desperately needed the comfort he was offering even though she tried to convince herself she didn't want it.

He must've gotten up at some point while she was sleeping because he was writing in a sketchbook when she woke. She recalled he told her that he didn't need to sleep. At least he had something to occupy himself with while waiting for her to awaken.

She was wearing yesterday's clothes and despite the trouble on the horizon was looking forward to shopping for new clothes now that he found a shopping center with a couple of boutiques that should have something for her.

"At least we won't be attacked by mall rats," she joked, looking out at the stores. It was 2031, malls were nearly extinct. Local businesses were still open though, especially little specialty stores like the ones she was about to visit.

"See that coffee shop?" he pointed at a book store that was connected to a little coffee shop. "I'll be there. Meet me when you're done."

Grateful she wouldn't be stuck shopping with him, she took off to buy things. She didn't go crazy, just got the necessities. A few shirts, pairs of pants, undergarments, and a coat just in case they ended up in colder weather. She found a luggage bag that would work perfectly for everything. In the next store, she got some snow boots—again, cold weather?—but also splurged on a pair of cute boots because... _why not?_

One more stop and she found any and all toiletries of her own. She got a case for those too, one that would fit easily in the larger bag with her clothes. She even picked up some candles in case she needed to do a spell or two. She was all set, and she did it in record time. She knew he would be anxious to keep moving.

Arriving at the coffee shop, she looked at the seating area first. When she didn't see him, she searched through the connecting book shop. She didn't see him anywhere. Frowning, she did another search.

"Cl—" she stopped herself. She wasn't supposed to go around using that name in public. "Alex?" she called out softly, not wanting to draw attention. She retraced her steps back to the coffee shop, but she didn't see him anywhere. Where was he? This _was_ where he said to meet, right?

She walked outside to look at the store front. It was the correct one. 

_Where is he?_

She started to worry. When he told her to put a cloaking spell on them yesterday, she was so worried her magic wouldn't be strong enough that she used the strongest cloaking spell she knew—her own. The same one she used to hide her mother because she knew how powerful it was. If Clarke was missing though... she would never be able to find him.

Panic rising, she called, "Alex?" outside of the store. A few people looked at her and she ducked her head. _Darn it_.

Sprinting across the parking lot, bags in hand, she saw that the car was gone. Had he left her? 

_No_ , she knew deep down there was no way he would do that. But if the car was gone, did he take off because of another monster? Was something following him and he was trying to get away? Had Triad found him?

She turned around, surveying the entire area, trying to find some trace of him or trouble. She didn't see anything. She kept turning and looking. She felt like she was walking in circles. What was she supposed to do if he wasn't here?

"Cl—" she stopped herself again. She couldn't say that, but maybe he wasn't used to being called the new name? Desperate, she threw caution to the wind and screamed, " _Ryan_!"

He appeared behind her wearing his hat low on his head and sunglasses, "Hey, hey, I'm here."

She turned around, relief hitting her so hard she nearly gasped. "Where were you!?"

"I saw another car like mine," he explained. "I moved the car next to it so I could switch the plates in case someone saw the numbers and told Triad."

"Don't _do_ that to me," she said, smacking him with a bag. "And someone could've seen you. It's broad daylight!"

"Not with this," he held up a hand showing his ring.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked. That was in _her_ dresser drawers back at school.

"Exactly where you left it," he shrugged. "Let's stow your stuff. You finished faster than I thought."

Grumbling to herself, she followed him to the new parking spot and put her stuff in the back.

"Just wait in the car, I'll be right back," he said.

"Absolutely not," she said, slamming the trunk closed. "You aren't leaving my sight again."

He raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself."

She walked with him back to the book shop, "So you really needed something here?"

He nodded and started pulling out books, handing them to her.

She read each title as he laid them in her arms. There were books on Greek mythology, Grimm's fairy tales, folklore from various regions, demons, monsters, myths, and legends.

"I thought you already knew most of this," she said, not even wincing as the pile of books grew. Her strength was definitely back too. _Thank goodness_.

"I do," he agreed. "But it doesn't hurt to brush up. Plus _you_ need to know it in case you have to deal with something without me."

Not wanting to think about that possibility, she silently followed him to the front register. He took the books from her, a few at a time, stacking them on the counter, being sure to block her face the entire time. "Wait for me outside."

She started to argue, but he reassured her. "You can see the register from right there. I don't want anyone to remember us being together."

"Won't they remember you though?"

"Hence the hat and shades," he said.

She did as he asked and noticed he paid with cash this time. That was probably best. Leaving his new name on a credit card receipt from buying a pile of books about monsters was a dead giveaway.

Leaving the store, he handed her the bags with a wince.

"Why are you so worried about Triad anyway?" she asked as they walked back to the car.

"They're relentless and can make things very unpleasant," he answered. "Plus, we still don't know if I'm immortal. I don't really want to find out from a bullet to the chest."

"Right," she said, suddenly more worried about Triad too.

* * *

"Missouri?" she said, seeing the welcome sign as they drove past. "Are we just making a straight line across the country or something?"

"No," he said. "We're going south to Oklahoma next and trying to stay off the interstates where we can. Hanging out in the middle of nowhere means when the monsters attack there's less likely to be any witnesses."

She nodded. She needed to ask him some questions, but she kept putting it off because she feared the answers. Now was as good a time as any though.

"So...now that Malivore has taken over Landon... what does he want?" she asked. "What are his plans?"

He stared ahead, not wanting to answer that question but knew he had to say something. "Right now he's just focusing on taking out anyone who is a threat to him."

"But... Landon told me Malivore created him, and _you_ , because he wanted to create a lineage..."

He nodded.

"Is he going to... actually try to do that now?"

Clarke didn't answer her. He honestly didn't know but given that had been his father's goal as long as he had known him...

"And knowing the circumstances of Landon's birth, I guess we know where Malivore stands when it comes to consent," she reached the only conclusion she could make. She felt nauseated and disgusted. "I'm gonna be sick."

"Like I said," he said, trying to get her mind off of it. "He's focused on taking out his enemies right now. As long as you're alive, he's too busy for other things. Just think about that."

"How did he rise in the first place?" she asked. "I don't understand. I mean, Josie brought _you_ back, but she couldn't have brought _him_ back too... There was only one portal. If he had risen alongside you, we would've seen him, right?"

Wincing inwardly, he answered her. "Sebastian."

"Sebastian?" That was a name out of left field.

"He came back from the prison world."

"Right," she nodded slowly, trying to follow his reasoning. "He jumped into Malivore which is why Lizzie and everyone forgot about him. What does he have to do with..."

Her eyes widened. "I sealed the portal. The one we created you out of."

He waited for her to connect all the dots.

"When Sebastian jumped in, he couldn't get out because I blocked it... but Malivore _had_ to let him out. So another portal was created. And since it's a portal to the same hell dimension, everything was connected so when Dark Josie raised you, she raised him too..."

She gasped. "I did this." She covered her mouth and closed her eyes tightly.

"No," he was quick to refute her words. "It was my fault."

She shook her head, not allowing him to take responsibility.

"I knew there was a chance Sebastian made another portal, and I didn't tell you," he admitted, preparing for her anger.

"It doesn't matter," she said. " _I_ did this. None of this would've happened if I had just..."

"What?" he asked. "Not brought me back?"

She stared at him silently. She didn't know. She was glad he was there with her. But was everything that Malivore had done or was about to do worth bringing him back?

She shouldn't think about it that way though. If she had known this would happen, she would've found another way to bring him back.

"No," she finally answered. "Besides, it doesn't matter now. It was my decision to make, and I made it. What's done is done. It's up to me to fix it."

She went quiet for so long, he had to say something.

"Look," he said, trying to find a way to make her stop torturing herself. "Landon isn't exactly magical. At the end of the day, it's still weak pathetic Landon's body. More than likely Malivore will have to learn to woo. Plus, he probably knows nothing of twenty-first century forms of birth control. That will definitely put a snag in his plans." Most women nowadays took their own precautions. His father might find continuing his legacy more difficult than he thought.

She heard him, but nothing he said would make any of this better. In fact, his words made her feel even worse. She should probably insist he take her back to Mystic Falls right now so she could face all of this head on, but keeping the monsters away from the school was the safest choice for everyone. Malivore probably kept sending out monsters, letting them spread out in the direction they had gone or other places too anticipating their route. He would want to cover as much ground as possible. She would just have to make sure they killed them all so Malivore couldn't grow stronger. She also needed to find out what was happening back home.

"I need to call the school," she said.

"Later," he said.

"Just pull over and let me find a phone," she insisted.

"No," he shook his head. "Calling from a landline to another landline gives away too much information."

"I need to call them," she argued.

"And you will," he argued right back. " _Later_. I'll set up one of the burners."

"You are so paranoid," she said, sitting back and giving up for now.

* * *

A little while later, she searched for another piece of paper and started scribbling on it. She scratched things out, rewriting, and scratching out again.

Giving in to his curiosity, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"The cloaking spell," she said glumly. "If the monsters are still finding us, I guess it's not working right...I was thinking I could drop it and use a new one, but change up one thing."

"What?" he asked.

"It will do the job of cloaking, but there'll be a loophole," she explained. "The person who casts it can still find whatever is cloaked. If I had used something like this on my mother," she cleared her throat. She wasn't getting into that with him. "If I had used this on _us_ , I wouldn't have worried about finding you today. I haven't figured it out yet though." She worried her bottom lip, reading over what she had written.

"I don't think your magic was that far off before," he told her. "May just be that cloaking doesn't matter. These monsters aren't trying to find us by magic."

"So you think I should just drop the cloaking spell? Permanently?" she asked.

"I don't think it matters either way," he said.

She thought about it and decided he was right. The monsters weren't witches, and neither was Malivore. Witches were the only ones who could try to locate them. And what witch would help Malivore?

She whispered, " _Sa recondunt_ ," dropping the spell.

He took the next exit and pulled into a rest stop.

"Why are we stopping?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"Nature calls," he smirked, hopping out.

She opened her door, slamming it behind her as she ran after him. "Wait!"

He stopped and gave her a questioning look.

"I'll walk you," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "Gonna shake it for me too?"

"Hey," she frowned at him.

"Right, sorry," he apologized. Now wasn't the best time for innuendo. "Come on."

She followed him to the door, not caring at the strange looks she got from the other men leaving the restroom. "I'll be right here."

"You dropped the cloaking spell," he reminded her with a mocking smile. "You don't have to follow me everywhere."

"Just scream if you need me," she insisted, motioning for him to go forward.

Watching him leave, she knew she was being ridiculous. She could find him now, but she still hadn't recovered from her scare that morning. She wasn't going to leave his side for the foreseeable future if she could help it.

"Let's go," she said, exasperated, when he came out with his face still showing his amusement. He led the way and she followed, looking around. It appeared theirs was the only vehicle left at the stop for the moment.

Clarke had to laugh at this latest development. Was she seriously going to follow him everywhere he went? He didn't take _her_ for being paranoid. He knew he upset her that morning when she couldn't find him, but was this really necessary?

Hearing a surprised squeak behind him, he turned around and found her struggling to maintain her balance on a giant pinkish purple sticky pad of some sort. She wobbled then tried to bend down and unlace her boots so she could step out of them back onto the concrete.

"What is _that_?" he asked.

"I don't know," she huffed, finishing with one boot and trying to unlace the other. "Next monster?"

"He sent a sticky purple carpet?" he said, walking around it, trying to figure out what the ploy was here.

"Whoa!" she wobbled again when the pad started wiggling back and forth before she could get her feet out of her boots. She lost her balance and ended up on all fours, her hands and knees now stuck too. "Oh come on!"

Hearing a loud croak behind them, they looked and saw a giant man-sized frog sitting in the middle of the grass with its vocal sac bubble near bursting before it shot out a long wide pink-purple tongue that Clarke just barely avoided.

Missing its target, the tongue detached and fell to the ground for the next unsuspecting victim. _Oh._

"Clarke, watch out!" she warned, but it was too late. The frog shot out his tongue again and wrapped it around his arms and upper torso.

It tried to sling shot him back to its mouth like it would a fly. Unable to stop himself, he went flying through the air, only to be stopped by some invisible force.

Hope was focusing, her magic pulling him back toward her.

"Why do I keep getting the tongue?" he asked, disgusted.

She ignored him, focusing instead on pulling him away from the frog while she struggled with the detached tongue she was caught in much like flypaper. The more she moved, the worse she got stuck. She finally admitted defeat when she was pretty much rolled up in it.

"This isn't working," she grumbled.

"Hurry up!" he called. "There's nothing keeping it from just hopping over here to eat me instead."

Muttering to herself, she focused all of her magic on creating a barrier between him and the frog, one that pushed them apart making it impossible for either to move toward the other.

"Do something!" he insisted again. How long could she hold this?

"What did your books say about giant frog things?!" she asked, gritting her teeth when she realized she was basically covered in frog spit at this point.

"Nothing!" he called back.

"Well, the only thing about frogs I know is..." her eyes widened. "Kiss the frog!"

"What?!"

"You have to kiss the frog!"

"I'm not kissing a frog!"

"I can't hold this spell forever!" she cried out.

"Didn't you _just_ mention something about consent?"

"Then ask the frog if you can kiss it?!"

"I meant me!"

"Clarke, you either get eaten by the frog or you kiss the frog," she struggled against her bindings again. "Your choice!"

"Damn it," he muttered. "How am I supposed to do this?" He looked down at the tongue wrapped around him suddenly feeling quite nauseous.

"I'll let go of the spell, and when you go flying at it, I'll move you up and over and you can kiss its giant toady head," she instructed. "Sound like a plan?"

"I hate this plan," he said, but he nodded.

It worked though. When Clarke grabbed hold of its head, avoiding the giant amphibian mouth trying to swallow him, and kissed it, all of the tongue parts disappeared and Hope sprang free.

The frog turned into an honest to goodness prince, complete with a crown baring a single arch, a richly embellished cloak, tunic, leggings, and trousers.

The newly turned prince looked around in wonder before hollering, "Many thanks to you!" Then he ran off as quickly as he could.

"Don't mention it," Clarke mumbled, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

She came up to him, gingerly avoiding touching her own clothes that were still disgustingly damp. "Well, at least we know one thing."

"What's that?"

"Malivore can't control the humans he releases," she said.

They both watched the prince running in the distance.

"Think he'll be okay?" Hope asked.

"Do I care?"

Hope shrugged, "I need a shower."

"I need mouthwash."

"Guess we're down for the night..."

"Uh, _yeah_."

* * *

Hope got out of the shower feeling blissfully normal once again. She could use her own hair products and soap. Plus, the frog saliva was gone!

She grabbed a towel to dry off then wrapped it around herself. She picked up her lotion and went to sit on the edge of the tub.

Lizzie suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling her so badly she squealed in fright.

"Finally!" Lizzie said.

There was a knock at the door. "Hope?"

"It's okay," Hope called out, clutching her lotion to her chest. "It's just Lizzie."

"Oh...kay," Clarke said through the door.

Lizzie glanced at the door. "So now you're shacking up with him?"

"So now you're astral projecting into my shower?" Hope answered flippantly.

"It's my birthday, I'll astral project if I want to," Lizzie said, folding her arms across her chest.

Hope made a face at her.

Lizzie made one right back.

"Happy birthday," Hope finally offered, opening up her bottle of lotion. Squeezing a dollop out, she began rubbing the cream into her right leg.

"Thank you," Lizzie replied succinctly. "You know, we've been trying to locate you since MG told us what happened."

"I had a cloaking spell on us until today," Hope explained. "It didn't block the monsters from finding us, so why bother?"

"Where are you?" the blonde asked.

"Somewhere in Missouri, I think?" Hope replied, switching to her other leg. "We're just getting as far away as possible right now."

"Seriously, _I_ should be the one Thelma and Louise-ing it with you across the country," Lizzie said. "Not that...that..."

"Clarke," Hope supplied for her.

Lizzie made a face again.

"What's happening back there?" Hope asked. "Is Lan—I mean, Malivore causing trouble?"

"Actually, no," Lizzie said. "No one has even seen him since MG left you guys."

"That's a relief," Hope said, though she wondered why. What was he up to? "We figured out he can release multiple monsters from the pit even though he's in Landon, and once the monsters do what they're supposed to he just puts them back in the pit again. Every time he absorbs the creature again, it just makes him stronger so eventually he'll be able to release _all_ the monsters at once if he wants to."

"So, basically he's like an anaconda that regurgitates its food and eats it again?"

"Gross," Hope scrunched up her nose. "Just...stop watching movies, Lizzie."

"So what does he want?" Lizzie said, tapping her foot.

"For now, to get rid of anyone he considers to be a threat to him. Namely, me," Hope said, sitting up to rub the lotion into her arms next. "I don't know if there's anyone else... However, his ultimate goal is to father his own line so..."

"And you're telling _me_ to stop watching movies?" Lizzie said, disgusted. "Yours are worse."

"I know," Hope said, pausing. "So you need to get your dad to search for him, make sure he's not... doing that..."

"Right.," Lizzie nodded. "So, do we know how he managed to body snatch Landon? How is he not a pile of goo anymore?"

"I didn't know there were two portals open when we brought Clarke back," she explained. "When he came back, so did Malivore."

" _We_ did this," Lizzie realized, horrified.

"No, I did," Hope denied.

"No," Lizzie shook her head. "I said it was okay to get the darkness out of Josie by bringing Clarke back... _we_ did this," she insisted again.

They both went quiet, thinking of the ramifications.

"How is everyone?" Hope finally asked, going back to rubbing her arms.

"Well, Dad isn't really happy that you've taken off to parts unknown with the spawn of satan," Lizzie began. "But since he saved your life, he's dealing with it. He's worried about you though."

"I'm okay," Hope said, knowing her friend would pass that message on.

"Right," Lizzie said. "My birthday sucked. Josie has decided its time for big life changes again."

"Oh?" Hope stood up and picked up another towel to dry her hair.

"She removed her magic!" Lizzie exclaimed. "Just hid it away! Says she doesn't trust herself anymore, even with Clarke clearly on the run with you, she just doesn't want to take any chances."

"Wow," Hope said, amazed. She knew Josie was upset and down, but she didn't think she would go that far.

"She'll probably be even _more_ certain about her decision when she knows her darker half is responsible for bringing Malivore back," Lizzie said.

Hope couldn't disagree.

"It gets worse," Lizzie warned.

"How could it possibly?" Hope began combing her hair.

"Since she doesn't have magical powers anymore, she's _insisting_ on going to Mystic Falls High!" Lizzie threw her hands up at the ridiculousness of it all.

"What did your dad say?"

"He's going to let her!" Lizzie complained. "He thinks it's just something she has to work through."

"Well, I guess..." Hope could see his point. It was also safer for Josie. If he didn't let her go, she would be at a school for witches, werewolves, and vampires and have no way to protect herself.

"And Jade's going too!" Lizzie revealed.

At that, Hope turned to look at Lizzie. "Is that wise?"

"That's what I said!" the blonde said. "But Jade feels uncomfortable at the Salvatore School and doesn't want to stay. Says she wants to get used to being around humans. She took my Ripper 101 test yesterday. Failed, but then she passed today with flying colors."

"Again, I ask, is that wise?" Hope said, trying to understand why Doctor Saltzman would allow this. He probably felt bad for sending Jade to the prison world without realizing her humanity was shut off. Sometimes he could be the worst softy.

"Again, what I said!" Lizzie agreed. "So Dad's asked Jed to enroll too and keep an eye on the both of them."

" _Jed?!_ " Hope exclaimed. "Is _that_ wise?!"

"Who really knows anymore?!" Lizzie threw her hands out. "It's a circus of epic proportion!"

 _Clearly,_ Hope thought.

"Dad's even got Tinker Bell going around with a video camera at all times in case something happens and then we 'forget' about it," Lizzie continued. "Though, if he had _his_ way we'd all be walking around with Go Pros attached to our heads!"

"Not a bad idea actually," Hope said. "Tinker Bell?"

"Wade."

"Right," Hope nodded. She should've known.

She turned back to the mirror and began to apply moisturizer.

"What about Rafael?" she asked.

"He's in denial," Lizzie shook her head. "He won't believe it until he sees for himself. He wants to go out and try to find Landon. He thinks it's an illusion, that Malivore just has him kidnapped or something. So far Dad's convinced him to stay put, but you know it's only a matter of time."

"Maybe he can help Doctor Saltzman with that...potential problem I mentioned?" Hope said. _That_ would give Rafael something to do...and give him whatever proof he needed.

She finished with the mirror and grabbed a pair of black pajama shorts from the hook by the door. She pulled them up under the towel.

"How's MG's training going?" she asked.

"It's coming along..." Lizzie shrugged. "Or, at least it's taking him longer to break free from the constraints now. I think that has more to do with me making them tighter than with him holding himself back." She shook her head, feeling bad that she couldn't do more to help him.

"He's still completely indestructible for now though," Lizzie continued. "Don't worry, mums the word on the _lood-bay_."

"Thanks," Hope said, pulling the shirt off the hook next and pushing her arms through. She started buttoning down the front.

"Wait," Lizzie said, eyeing the shirt. "What is _that_?"

"My pajamas?" Hope said.

"That's one of _his_ shirts," she accused.

"No," Hope said, finishing buttoning it. "He let me use it last night since we ran before I could pack anything. It's mine now."

"R _iii_ ght," Lizzie drew out the word.

Since the shirt was in place, she pulled the towel out from under it and hung it on the now empty hook.

"So," Lizzie tapped her foot impatiently. "Did you ask him about MG?"

"No..." Hope said, turning to lean against the bathroom door and continue the conversation now that she was done getting ready for bed. "There's been other things happening."

"You mean you forgot to ask?" Lizzie asked in disbelief.

"I guess?" Hope said carefully.

"You didn't forget," Lizzie pointed a finger at her, eyes blazing. "You already forgave him, didn't you?"

"Lizzie," Hope said in a placating tone.

"No," Lizzie put a hand up, not allowing her to deny it or explain it away. "He hasn't given you any explanation but you _have_ already forgiven him. Heck, you probably forgave him that first day, that's why you jumped in front of him to save him. Am I right?"

"Lizzie, MG told you himself he _likes_ being a vampire," Hope argued. "If Clarke hadn't done whatever he did, for whatever reason, MG wouldn't be one. And you wouldn't even know him!"

"That doesn't make it okay," Lizzie maintained.

Hope didn't know what else to say. Lizzie was right. She _had_ forgiven him without asking. She knew firsthand some of the horrible things he had done, but she didn't hold any of it against him. Not anymore.

"I don't see how you can just give him a free pass," Lizzie said with less anger, like she was truly trying to understand.

Hope couldn't answer that either, she wasn't sure _she_ understood fully.

"You know, with everything going on, I didn't even get a decent birthday present this year," Lizzie said dryly.

Hope looked up with a small hopeful smile, "Clarke had to kiss a frog today."

Lizzie tilted her head and considered.

She nodded.

"I'll take it."

* * *

Laying his sketchpad on the table, Clarke observed Hope sleeping from his chair.

She was sleeping fitfully in _his_ shirt. Apparently she decided to claim it for her own. She could've gotten any number of her own shirts today but she wanted to wear that one. If he didn't know better, he would think she was deliberately wearing it just to torture him. At least this time she was wearing shorts with it.

Every time she seemed to settle in, it didn't last long. She tossed and turned, but it didn't wake her. She clearly wasn't resting well. After everything she learned that day, she was probably still reeling from it even in her dreams. Whatever she talked about with Lizzie in the bathroom earlier probably didn't help matters. She hadn't told him much of what they discussed, and he hadn't been able to hear anything through the door.

Standing, he went over, wondering if he should wake her. She rolled out of the way before he could make a decision.

Sighing, he sat down on the bed and reached out to touch her arm. She rolled back against him then. Her frown eased and she finally seemed to settle down.

He waited, thinking she would start her restless slumber again but she never did. She finally relaxed completely, sleeping peacefully.

Against him.

_Go figure._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _lood-bay_ is Pig Latin for Blood.


	16. Stop Eating In My Bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

She was dancing with him again.

Her family's annual Christmas Ball was well under way, and she was having a blast. She already danced with her father, and then Clarke cut in for a slow number. He was wearing the same tuxedo as before, looking like he belonged there. They didn't speak; he only looked down at her with that lopsided smile of his as they went through the motions.

The music picked up in tempo once more so he pulled back and spun her around. Giggling, she let him twirl her thinking she probably looked ridiculous, but she was having fun.

He pulled her towards him loosely, her back to his front, and bent to wrap his arms around her waist from behind to resume dancing. They swayed to the music until he spun her out to twirl her again.

This time when she twirled, she thought she saw a face in the crowd that didn't belong. She spun back in Clarke's direction and resumed the traditional dance pose but instead of meeting his gaze she looked around trying to see the face again.

Catching sight of it, she mumbled, "I'll be right back" and left Clarke on the dance floor to seek out her prey.

Trying to place where she saw that face before, she followed him through long dark corridors. She saw him go through a door, so she went through it too only to find herself in a darkened alley.

Glancing around, she saw no one. She walked down the steps, looking back and forth up and down the alley, but still, nothing.

Turning to go back up the stairs, she was suddenly grabbed from behind. A large muscular arm wrapped around her tightly and held her in place. She struggled, but for some reason she had no strength. She tried to use her magic to zap this jerk into the next county but even that wasn't working.

Her worry was compounded when she realized her captor held a gun in his other hand and was holding it to her head.

"I know the other bullets don't work on you two, so don't worry," Agent Burr of Triad Industries said. "These will get the job done."

She thought he wasn't allowed to work in the field anymore, that's what MG told her his mom said. So why was he here, holding a gun to her head? And what did he mean by "you two"?

The door to the alley creaked open suddenly and Clarke was there looking for her. He called out her name before he even registered the situation in front of him.

Burr raised the gun quickly, aimed at Clarke, and fired.

Everything went dark.

_Was something burning?_

She woke abruptly with a gasp.

The bed shifted, and she was relieved to see Clarke was okay.

He was lounging next to her again. She wasn't sure why she never told him to stop, just like she wasn't sure why he always got them rooms with two beds if he was never going to use his.

His normal routine now included propping the pillows from his bed against the headboard on _hers,_ on the side of the bed closest to the door. Far as she knew, he spent all night reclining on those pillows while he forever etched in his sketchpad.

"Checked out the windows," he said, settling in with a bag of popcorn. He tossed a handful into his mouth. "Coast seems clear." He shrugged.

"Did you burn the popcorn?" she mumbled. Her nose wrinkled.

"No," he said. "Want some?" He pushed the bag over to her.

She cringed back and turned away. It certainly _smelled_ like he burnt it.

"No," she mumbled again into her pillow. "Stop eating in my bed."

He clearly ignored her as the continued sounds of him crunching filled her ears.

"Doesn't this place have breakfast included?" she asked. She was pretty sure they were staying at a hotel this time, and most of the better ones served breakfast.

"Yep," he said, tossing another handful into his mouth. "'Til nine."

She cranked open an eye and saw the clock read 8:30am. _Great_.

Crawling out of bed, she stumbled around and grabbed her clothes for the day. If she didn't get them there before it closed, he would bring it up all day. Food was one of his favorite things and stuffing his face in the morning almost seemed to be the highlight of his day. She had no idea where he put it all. Probably all part of that bottomless pit thing. Well, if he _had_ to inherit anything from his father that was probably the best attribute.

Her clean clothes supply was desperately dwindling. Hopefully this hotel had a laundry too. When he checked in last night, she had to wait outside covered in _snot_. Laughing at her, he insisted it was slime, but she just knew that monster's last great act was a giant sneeze.

They had been on the road for a week now, and the monsters kept coming. The most they had in one day was three so far, but it would probably only get worse. They weren't always able to identify them, but they found cutting off the head or shooting things at the heart—or where they thought the heart might be located—worked really well.

Today they were on their fourth day in Oklahoma. They stayed at a different place every night; and, to be honest, she was getting tired of it. How was she going to get through another four weeks of things constantly changing? Continuously moving in and out of hotel rooms and, when she wasn't fighting, sitting in a car all day long.

 _At least the company wasn't bad,_ she thought. Clarke didn't annoy her— _much_ —and they fought well together. She may have all the power, but he could hold his own. They were a team...partners even.

She had to smile at that, remembering when he tried to charm her into being partners when they were stuck in Malivore. They had come a long way since then.

She trusted him to have her back in fighting and while she slept. They relied on each other and she couldn't imagine going through all of this without him. She never bothered asking him _why_ he was helping her. He really didn't have to; he could've just taken off and left her to deal with this all by herself. The only thing he really had to do in return for getting his body back was provide the merge information. She figured his reason for staying probably had something to do with wanting her as more than a friend, but he hadn't pushed for that. He hadn't mentioned it at all again, which she was grateful for. She didn't think she would be able to deal with that on top of everything else, especially if she had to tell him in no uncertain terms that it wasn't going to happen.

Maybe he had accepted what she said before and was satisfied with being her friend. She didn't think he had many real friends, based on what he said to her once in a dream. She may not know for sure why he stayed but she was glad all the same.

Which was why her dream troubled her. It reminded her of the dream when she saw Landon dying and there was nothing she could do to save him. Part of that dream _had_ turned out to be a premonition, Dark Josie proved it. And while Landon wasn't blatantly dead, she had no idea if he still existed somewhere in his body or not. Was this latest dream another premonition? She knew they weren't sure if Clarke was immortal again. Should she even let him keep fighting with her? She needed him, but she didn't want him to die. Was she being selfish in letting him stay to help? Should she figure out a way to do this on her own? _Could_ she do this alone?

Thinking on it, she realized it probably wouldn't matter if she tried to do it alone. He was too involved now, too invested. He seemed perfectly content in helping her.

Something told her even if she tried to send him away, he wouldn't go.

* * *

Alaric pulled up to Mystic Falls High and dropped off the kids, whom he had taken to affectionately calling the "Js"—also known as Josie, Jade, and Jed.

Seeing the sheriff's cruiser pull up to drop off Maya and Ethan, he quickly found a place to pull over so he could hop out and speak to her.

"Good morning, Sheriff," he said, approaching her window.

"Doctor Saltzman," she nodded with a smile. "How are they adjusting?"

 _Nothing got past her_ , he noted. She probably thought it was strange that three kids from an elite boarding school had decided to switch to the local public high school in the middle of the semester. Stranger still that one of those kids was his own daughter. If the sheriff had still been Matt Donovan, he would have told the new principal to give the applications for transfer a resounding _no_. Alas, Matt hadn't hired a replacement with knowledge of the supernatural. So, when his daughter insisted on going to a school for humans now that she didn't have any magical powers, he had no reason to say no.

With Jade, he had every reason though. A vampire attending Mystic Falls High was never good for the locals, but he couldn't deny her when she told him her intentions. She wasn't a student of the Salvatore school anymore, not after ten years in a prison world, but she had every right to finish the education he denied her by sending her there. At least he knew she was suffering from her actions while her switch was turned off. As long as she felt remorse, she was a hundred times less likely to lose control like that again. He denied her at first, pointing out that a ripper around humans wasn't a good idea. She argued that if she was ever going to control herself enough that she could continue her chosen field of study, she _needed_ to be around humans. She insisted she be given Lizzie's ripper test. When she passed it on the second day with resounding success, he begrudgingly agreed but with the stipulation that a werewolf accompany her at the school to make sure she stayed out of trouble.

Fortunately Jed didn't mind. He felt honored to be given his first solo mission.

There was also the added bonus that Jed would be able to keep an eye on Josie. Just in case.

"They're doing well," he said. "It's only been a few days, but I've heard no complaints."

"Glad to hear it," she dispensed with the pleasantries before addressing the thing most weighing on her mind. "Any updates on our peculiar epidemic?"

"Not yet," he returned, shuffling. "And a few people forgetting one person is hardly an epidemic. Unless there've been more cases you haven't told me about?"

"No, seems pretty contained for now," she replied with a side eye. "I'd love to know your thoughts so far on it though."

"I'm not really getting anywhere yet," he hedged before changing the topic to _his_ reason for stopping her. "Have you had any other...interesting cases?"

"None that I can talk about," she answered giving the standard sheriff department's answer for everything.

"But...nothing that..." he coughed delicately, "females should be worried about, right?" That was the best way he could word it. He hadn't heard anything in the news since Hope told Lizzie to get him to investigate Malivore's possible plans to spawn and launch a baby Malivore army.

"Why?" she asked, straightening in her seat. "Have you heard from that guy again?"

Alaric had to think before realizing she meant Clarke. "Oh, uh, no. He's...long gone, and... I may have jumped the gun on him." Clarke had still manipulated his family, but saving Hope like that...well, he didn't feel _bad_ about making the sheriff suspect the former agent of harassment; he just didn't want to continue the farce any further.

"Really," she said in disbelief.

"Don't get me wrong," he continued. "I still wouldn't want him to date any of my daughters, but he's not quite as big an ass as I thought. Still an ass though."

" _Any_ of your daughters?" she noted. "Don't you mean _either_?"

"Right," he agreed, but he spoke correctly. Hope may be a Mikaelson, but he spent the past few years since her parents passed trying to fill in for them in some miniscule way. She said herself after getting out of Malivore that he was the closest thing she had to a father. He would always think of her as another daughter, and he would always protect her the same way he would protect his own flesh and blood. Knowing that she was on the run being chased by all kinds of monsters was scary enough—though he knew he had trained her well enough she could handle herself—the fact that she was on the run with Agent Clarke as the only person to watch her back gave him misgivings. He didn't trust the guy, but he didn't really have a choice. He had to hope everything would be okay and that his being with her didn't cause more trouble than not.

Speaking of...

"You didn't ever run his name, did you?" he asked, suddenly realizing he may have inadvertently caused more trouble for Hope. Lizzie mentioned the runaways were worried about Triad. If Sheriff Mac had done a search for Ryan Clarke...

"No," she shook her head. "As long as he left town, he didn't give me a reason to."

Relieved, he went back to his original line of questioning. "So, as a father of two teenage girls, I'd be grateful to know of any potential predators in the area..." He was fishing.

"As a mother of a teenage girl," she said pointedly, "I feel the same. I'd let the community know immediately if we had a problem of that sort."

Satisfied that he could rule that out for now, he relaxed.

A scratchy sound came through the sheriff's radio, "We've got a 187. Eastern end of Greenbelt."

Alaric recognized the code for a murder/homicide.

"Have a good day, Ric," the sheriff said immediately, putting her car in drive and speeding off before he could reply.

He was suddenly filled with dread.

Murders happening in Mystic Falls almost always came with a supernatural reason.

* * *

 _Of course she walked her to class_ , Josie thought, seeing Jade and Maya in the hallway outside of the gymnasium.

Josie was glad, _really really_ glad, to be going to Mystic Falls High. It was something new and different. Best of all? There was no magic. If she couldn't practice magic or be around magic, she wouldn't be tempted to use it and start doing black magic again. When Lizzie reluctantly told her that Malivore had risen because her darker half had brought him back along with Clarke, she knew she made the right choice.

Part of her wanted to keep the magic and try to find a way to get Malivore out of Landon, but the bigger part of her realized it would just be another excuse to continue using magic. She was going to sit this one out, let someone else fix it. Hope was really good at saving the day at the last minute. She had faith everything would be okay in the end.

For now though, she was in gym class and she _was_ excited since it was the only class she shared with Jade, but for the second day in a row Jade walked to class with Maya who waved goodbye and ran off to her free period.

Josie thought she and Jade had a connection. That Jade insisted on coming to the public school because she wanted to spend time with _her_ , get to know _her._ But Jade had only been friendly, not flirty.

No, Maya was the one who got flirty Jade. Josie didn't like it one bit.

Jade ran up to join Josie on the bleachers.

"You know, it amazes me how much things have changed in the past ten years," she said excitedly. "Homosexuality isn't anything to be ashamed of any more. I can ask someone out without fear of being judged or laughed at. I know it was starting towards this back then, but to experience it for myself on _this_ level? This is great!"

"Yes," Josie said with a small smile. "Be out and proud. Date anyone you want."

Jade grinned at her.

"Um, is it wise for _you_ to date a human though?" Josie asked hesitantly.

Her grin faded and she looked at Josie, eyes slightly hurt but she blinked it away. "Did you say the same thing to him about his new friend?" She looked pointedly over to where Jed and Ethan were wrestling. "He could hurt him, you know."

Jade then looked at Josie with a devilish grin. "But then, maybe you want to be the one to nurse him back to health?"

The brunette looked away. For some reason Jade mistakenly thought Josie was interested in Ethan. She wasn't. She just couldn't stop staring at his arm. She heard the cast might come off any day now, but she also heard the cast would be on for at least another month. She hadn't come right out and asked Ethan, mostly because the guilt overwhelmed her.

She needed to figure out a way to help him. She ruined the rest of his football season and destroyed his future playing ball. Maybe if she could fix it, he could still impress scouts somehow? Football season was just about over, but surely they would be willing to check him out if they knew his previous stats and reputation...right?

Too bad she didn't have a spell to fix what the black magic had done to him... of course, even if she _had_ a spell she couldn't use it.

No, what she needed was a cure—an instantaneous cure that would heal the bone completely.

Fortunately, she knew of one.

Maybe Jade would be willing to help.

* * *

It was raining.

At least that meant less people were on the roads at this time of the afternoon.

"I wonder if Lizzie knows anything new yet," Hope said.

Sighing, he rubbed the spot between his eyes knowing where this was going.

"No," he said, signaling to change lanes. "You can't call her right now. Just astral project." She still hadn't quite grasped the concept of burner phones. The point being, they were used _sparingly_. Yes, they were untraceable, but he was paranoid about Triad locating them by any means necessary. For all he knew, Triad knew who Hope was and that she was with him. All they would have to do is hack into the Saltzman girl's cell phone and they could probably listen in on the conversation.

"I can't astral project while in a moving vehicle," she said.

"Then keep studying the books," he said. "Read me the next story."

To break up the silence when they were driving since she had to learn all the legends anyway, she would read them aloud. That way they could discuss each one, talk about potential weaknesses and plans of attack if they came up against it. The added bonus for him being that he got to listen to her voice

"Mind if I just read silently?" she said, grabbing one of the books at random from behind his seat. "I don't feel like talking."

He shook his head.

 _Yet, she wanted to talk to Lizzie._ He rolled his eyes inwardly. Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous. He knew he couldn't be _with_ Hope the way he wanted to, but she was _his_ friend. They were on this crazy journey together. _They_. As in Hope and Clarke. _Not_ Hope and Clarke _and Lizzie_. He was giving her all _his_ attention, couldn't she do the same? He knew they had to check in with Mystic Falls, but Hope wanted to talk for reasons other than their current predicament.

He figured out why though. She was bored.

While he was used to life on the road, traveling from one hotbed for magical creature activity to another, she wasn't. She did once tell him she wanted to travel the world, she probably didn't mean while sitting shotgun in his SUV with monsters chasing them. She wasn't actually experiencing much _of_ the world this way.

Maybe that was the answer?

"Oklahoma City has underground tunnels filled with history and art exhibits," he said. "It spans about twenty blocks with secret entrances everywhere."

"Uh huh," she said, turning to the next page.

"We can go," he suggested. "If you want. It's not that far."

She glanced up. "Did monsters stop chasing us and I wasn't aware?"

He shook his head in exasperation at himself. _Bad idea_. He shouldn't have even suggested it, why lead monsters into a civilized area? It would have Triad on their asses in an instant. Maybe the monotony was getting to him too. Though the idea of spending time with her where they _weren't_ fighting for their lives was really appealing.

"We could go to church," she said, frowning down at the book.

"I mean, not my first choice..." he said.

"This book on demons," she said. "Some of these are really nasty. I think having a supply of holy water would be super helpful just in case."

"So, a Catholic church," he agreed.

"Probably wouldn't hurt to wash all of our weapons in the stuff either...just in case," she said again.

"Wonder if we can get a priest to bless a couple gallons and call it a day?" he asked.

"Don't see why not?" she shrugged.

It didn't go down quite that way.

They did visit a Catholic church, but the priest thought they were making a joke of his religion. Instead of waiting for another priest to come on duty, Hope used an invisibility spell to go back inside and get some in an empty bottle. She washed a couple knives in it too. He figured they could stop at other churches when the need arose.

Arriving at the car, he stowed the weapons and water in the back while she ran around the car to get inside before she got too wet since the rain started to pick up.

Before he could get back inside, he heard a loud breaking sound. Looking behind him, he saw that some _thing_ had grabbed a tree and broke off part of it. Knowing where this was going, he yelled for Hope.

The monster, who looked like a giant old man, complete with incredibly long hair and beard, threw the tree trunk at them. 

" _Expello!_ " Hope said, sending out a burst of energy that made the tree fly back at him.

Knocking the wood aside, the monster next went to pick up a car.

Eyes widening, Hope started running toward the monster to get to it before it could. Seeing her, the monster kicked the stump toward her but still lifted the car and threw it.

Hope deflected the trunk then turned to look at the car.

It was going to land on a group of five school kids in protective rain gear. They must've just gotten let out as it was around that time of day.

Hope pushed out as much power as she could to stop the vehicle mid-air, the rain pouring around it. Thankfully it stopped, but it was still hovering over the kids.

Fortunately, they were smart enough to move out of the path of the car so she could set it down. She didn't see an adult with them. _Why_ wasn't there an adult with them?

"Get the kids!" she shouted at Clarke.

"They're moving," he insisted, seeing them already walking quickly away. "They'll be fine."

"Clarke!"

"I'm not a bloody hero," he said.

"No, but I am," she returned. "Get the kids out of here so I can go kick this thing's ass!"

He made a face at her but went to follow the kids.

Ignoring the sounds behind him, he met up with them.

"Hey, so why don't we go down this way, get away from the street with the crazy people," he directed them around a corner, far away from where Hope and the strong old man were throwing things back and forth again.

"How could that old man _do_ that?" asked a freckle-faced little girl with red hair and startling blue eyes.

"An adrenaline rush," he made up. He was used to fabricating plausible stories for the unexplainable while working for Triad. "It sometimes makes people a lot stronger than they usually are."

"What about the girl?" the same child asked again. Apparently she was the spokesperson for the other kids who looked too scared to speak up to the strange man. _All the better_.

"She, uh," he searched for something, "Used rope." He looked around while he continued to walk with them. What was he supposed to do with them now?

"Rope?" the child asked, clearly not believing him.

"Yeah, it was really strong but so thin you could barely see it," he said.

"But—"

He interrupted her before she could continue arguing with him. "How old are you anyway? Why isn't there an adult with you?"

"We're nine," she said.

"I'm ten!" a little boy boasted, needing to say it despite his fear.

"And he's ten," she said with a roll of the eyes. "We're old enough to walk home by ourselves. We don't live far from the school. We just stay in the group."

 _Sure, let them walk by themselves._ That was great and all unless something decided to throw a _car_ at them.

"I don't think you're telling the truth," the girl said. "She definitely didn't use rope."

Cursing to himself, he turned toward the kids, making them stop. "Okay, so she's a superhero."

The kids' eyes went wide in awe. _Of course they'd believe_ that _._

"But you can't say anything, she needs to keep it a secret so bad people can't find her," he said. "Think you can do that?"

The kids all nodded.

"Look, there's my mom!" one of the kids pointed at a woman who was making her way toward them with an umbrella from far down the street.

Far enough away that he could disappear without her noticing.

"Remember, you saw nothing," he said with a look encouraging them to conspire with him, right before he flicked his ring and disappeared in front of them.

"Wow..." the kids said, looking around, trying to see if he had only moved out of the way and hadn't turned invisible.

He walked away, heading back toward Hope. He hoped the kids kept quiet. Of course, he wasn't sure who was witnessing her display on the street now, which was why he had to hurry back.

Hope finally reached her prey, only to find that the old man was made of thicker material than she realized. She couldn't get a knife through his skin, so stabbing him through the heart wasn't going to work.

The rain wasn't making it any easier. When she jumped on him to find a weak spot, she ended up slipping off after he jerked around too many times. She tried using his beard to stay in place and managed to take a bit of hair with her. That seemed to anger the man even more.

Lightning cracked suddenly close by with a thundering boom in the distance.

The creature flinched away from the lightning, showing the first sign of weakness.

 _It's a troll,_ she realized with startling clarity. From her research earlier that year, she knew they didn't like lightning, but she also knew sunlight was the ultimate weakness.

Glancing at the sky, she knew there was only one way she would get any sunlight right now when she needed it most.

Concentrating, she sent out a strong pulse of magic that made the rain around them whip up into the sky before pushing the darkened clouds out of the way, allowing sunlight to stream through.

The sky began to calm and they were bathed in light.

As she watched, the troll stopped in its tracks and turned to stone.

Breathing deeply, she released the spell when his transformation was complete and found that the sky still shone brightly in the spot she opened.

"Hope."

She glanced at Clarke who was grinning at her, clearly impressed.

"That was cool, right?" she asked, grinning back at him.

"Only if you can move the new statue out of the middle of the street before anyone notices," he said, raising an eyebrow at the figure.

Biting her lip, she sighed and went to test her strength to see if she could lift a giant troll made of solid stone.

She could.

* * *

Alaric led the boys through the forest.

Using a locator spell on Landon days ago hadn't worked as well as they hoped.

Instead of showing Landon's location since he was now connected to Malivore, it also showed the location of all the monsters Malivore had released. The number was overwhelming, the lights on the map showing a dense population in Mystic Falls, but there were also a great many dotted along the map in the direction Hope and Clarke went. It was only a matter of time before they all reached their destination. According to Lizzie, Hope and Clarke were doing a good job of taking care of the creatures whenever they showed up. So they were picking those off, and back home Alaric had a team of his own on the hunt.

Their ultimate goal was to track Landon, but they would just keep killing the monsters they found until they lucked out and found him.

Kaleb, Jed, and MG were helping out for reasons quite different from Rafael's.

The alpha was in complete and total denial. Even given MG's story, the wolf didn't want to accept the truth. Landon was a phoenix, just like other creatures from the pit. Somehow Landon must've fallen into the pit and Malivore was just controlling him like he was controlling the other monsters. No way had his father taken over his body from the inside.

Alaric sympathized with him. Even though he recently found his father, Rafael still considered Landon to be the most important part of his family. They had no idea if Landon still existed inside of Malivore. Even if he did, there was a large chance they might not be able to get to him. If it came down to protecting the world or killing Landon... well...that was something Rafael wasn't prepared to deal with.

So, he took Rafael along on these missions, the only way to keep him from going out on his own. There was no telling what Malivore could unleash on a single wolf trying to seek him out.

"What's this?" Kaleb asked, noting a path in the grass where it seemed like everything had died. "It goes on for a while." He looked out across the darkened landscape.

"Guess we follow it," Alaric said, knowing Rafael was going to be disappointed again. They were hunting a monster this time.

The dead path stretched on for at least a mile in a straight line, which was why when the path veered suddenly, as if it were avoiding something, they took notice.

"Why'd it move?" MG said, looking around.

Alaric went to the area, still bursting in green abundance, and rifled around.

He jumped back when something small and ferret-like sprang out of what appeared to be a small nest under a rock pile.

"What was that?" Jed asked, shining his flashlight in the direction the creature ran.

"I think," Alaric stood up, brushing dirt off his pants, "that was a weasel."

"As in 'pop goes'?" Kaleb asked.

"As in, I think I know what we're facing," he said. "It's a basilisk."

"Man, like Harry Potter?" MG asked. "Lizzie's gonna be sad she missed this."

"Well, since we don't have Gryffindor's sword, guess we need the next best thing," Kaleb said. "Anyone got a mirror?"

"Jed does," MG and Rafael said at the same time.

Looking between them both, Jed pulled the mirror out of his pocket. "How'd you guys know?"

"That's just a myth," Alaric jumped in before they could get much further, knowing Kaleb wanted the mirror to show the beast itself. "The glare isn't what kills, it's the poisonous breath."

"Poisonous breath?" Rafael asked.

"Yeah, so looks like the wolves and human are sitting this one out," Alaric said. "Vampires only."

"But why?" Jed asked.

"Because vamps don't gotta breathe," Kaleb explained, catching on quickly.

"So if we don't have a sword and the mirror doesn't work, how do we kill it?" asked MG.

"You need to catch the weasel," Alaric said, nodding in the direction the animal ran.

MG and Kaleb both shot out, racing for the creature. They returned just as quickly with MG holding the wiggling body in his hands, careful to keep its little claws and mouth away from any of his body parts.

"Now what?" MG asked.

"You gotta get it to pee on the basilisk," Alaric said, wincing.

"Say what?" MG said. "How am I supposed to do _that_?"

"Running water?" Alaric suggested. He really had no idea.

"Man, this is jacked," Kaleb said. "Let's follow the trail, bro," he gestured to MG.

They started forward but Kaleb suddenly shot back and snatched the mirror out of Jed's hand.

"Just in case," he said.

MG and Kaleb followed the trail, leaving the others behind. The path finally fell off into a cave entrance.

Glancing at each other, they stopped breathing and walked forward.

The cave was dark but a glimmer of moonlight shown down at the entrance. Their enhanced vampire vision made it easier for them to see. In fact, it was easy to make out the form of something slithering toward the back of the cave.

"Kaleb," MG whispered.

"I see it," he said.

"Any ideas?" MG asked, still trying to figure out how to get a weasel to pee.

"I'll catch it, and hold it still," Kaleb whispered back. "Just, you know, set it on her and wait?"

"Better than anything I've got," MG said, shrugging and holding the weasel aloft.

Kaleb shot toward the basilisk and tried to find a good spot to hold it.

The creature turned toward him and snarled. Knowing he was just coated in poisonous gas, he was relieved he didn't have to smell this thing's bad breath.

"Okay," Kaleb said. "This is how it's gonna go. I'm gonna grab you and you're gonna behave. Sound good?"

Catching the scent of the weasel, the giant snake suddenly went wild, trying to slither away further into the cave.

"No, you don't," Kaleb ran and grabbed it by its tail. "MG!"

"You don't have it contained yet!" MG replied, struggling to hold the weasel that also caught the scent of the other creature and was squirming desperately.

"A little help!" Kaleb shouted as the monster turned its head back and shot out toward him, mouth open so wide he couldn't see its eyes, preparing as if to unleash even more deadly things at him.

He pulled on the tail, running at full vamp speed toward the opening of the cave. He dragged the serpent across the cave so it was lying uncoiled. He then jumped on top of it full-bodied, hands near the neck to subdue it against the ground.

"Now, now!"

MG came over and set the weasel down toward the back of the body, holding it in place. "Okay, little guy, just...do your thing."

"Hurry up!"

MG tried to make sounds of a waterfall. "Swish swish goes the water... now, just, _pee!_ "

Fed up, the serpent began jerking uncontrollably, bucking Kaleb off and making MG lose hold of the weasel which ran away again.

"Be right back," MG took off after the weasel.

"MG!" Kaleb scrambled to get out of the way, but the snake was turning toward him again. Slamming back into a wall near the entrance, moonlight shining on him, he struggled for the only thing he had left—the mirror.

Praying to all that was holy that a miracle would happen, he held the mirror up toward the monster, closing his eyes tightly and bracing for impact.

When nothing happened, he tentatively opened one eye.

The basilisk had fallen to the floor, eyes blank and body unmoving.

Jumping up, confidence surging, he snapped the mirror shut with a _hmph_! 

"If I was that ugly, I'd keel over looking in the mirror too."

"I got it!" MG rushed back, holding the weasel out.

"Fool, put that thing down," Kaleb said. "It's taken care of."

"Oh," MG shrugged and let the animal go.

"Take _that_ , Doctor S!" Kaleb fist pumped.

* * *

"You didn't use a spell," Clarke observed earlier and wanted to mention it.

Hope looked up from the pages sprawled across the bed with a smile. "I know."

"You controlled it," he said, leaning back in his chair and sitting his pencil down on the table.

"I did," she nodded. "I guess you were right. Now that I'm older and more experienced, I don't need to rely on spells for control so much anymore. Not even the really big ones like I did today. I definitely didn't know a spell to control the weather."

"You're not tired?" he asked, remembering how worn out she was when she sealed the portal.

"Not really," she shrugged. "Not more than usual at this time of day."

She turned a page over, and pushed it away. "I wish I could use a spell to give me some answers here."

"There's nothing new," he said. "Everything I collected on Seylah and Landon is all right there, and you've gone over it hundreds of times."

"Yeah, but Lizzie said there's been no reports of anything bad since Malivore rose, aside from that one missing person. There was a homicide, but word is that was a domestic violence dispute," she said. "So he has to be up to _something_. I just need to figure out what. I also need to figure out a way to get Malivore out of Landon."

"What makes you think Landon's even still alive in there?" he asked.

"What makes you think he's not?" she returned.

 _And therein lies the rub_. No matter how many times he insisted Landon was dead, he couldn't provide proof. She was going to have to accept it for the truth eventually though, unless he told her what he knew. But he wasn't going to. Malivore had to die, and Landon was going to die when it happened. Malivore was too powerful now for her to ever have a hope of separating them. The sooner she accepted that, the sooner she could use the golden arrow to take him out once and for all.

She picked up the photograph of Seylah holding baby Landon.

"I keep feeling like I'm missing something," she said, staring at the photograph. She flipped it over, seeing the names again. "But what?"

He shrugged and picked up his pencil again.

"Who took the photo?" she asked suddenly, sitting up straight.

"What?"

"Who took the photo?" she asked again, looking up at him.

He didn't have any idea, of course.

"Who even _left_ this photo with Landon on those church steps?" she said, hair rising on the back of her neck. "Think about it...Seylah didn't _want_ him to find her. She insisted she wasn't cut out to be a mother. She wanted to cut all ties with him. She just wanted him to have a better life...

"So _why_ would she leave a photo of herself with him? One with their names on the back, where she's wearing a necklace with Triad's logo?" she continued. "She was an international spy. She wouldn't have been stupid enough to leave clues like that."

He considered, realizing she was right.

She looked at the names on the back of the picture before she flipped through the pages on the bed again. "Look, see?" She held one of the pages out to him. " _This_ is her handwriting in her file. It looks nothing like the handwriting on the back of this!"

"Maybe the person who took the photo was someone who helped her at the hospital when she gave birth?" he suggested.

"If so, why would they bother leaving this photo with the baby?" she asked. "No, this was personal. This was someone who _wanted_ Landon to know who his mother was, to find his way back to his family."

She sat back, considering.

"She had no other family," he pointed out. Triad did thorough background searches on all of their new recruits. If she had family, she must've hid it _really_ well.

"It makes sense though...if she did seek out family or a friend," she said, staring down at the photograph. "When I came out of the pit, I knew no one would remember me. If I had come out _pregnant_ on top of that? It doesn't matter how badass you are, that's too scary to deal with on your own...

"I would've immediately gone to my family, not caring if they remembered me or not," she said. "I would need some kind of comfort. Being all alone is scary enough. Being all alone knowing you were violated like that?"

She looked up at him with sad eyes. "She was all alone in the world. She needed someone."

"What...do we do with this new information?" he asked cautiously, his stomach oddly in knots thinking about her coming out of the pit in the same condition as Seylah. He never once thought about what it must've been like for Hope returning to a world that had forgotten her. He didn't care much himself—just glad he was released—but she lost everything.

"We head to Kansas tomorrow," she said.

"Okay," he nodded.

"And we get Lizzie to do a lineage spell," she said.

"Will that have the same effect as the locator spell?"

"No," she shook her head. "A lineage spell will only search for living blood ties...

"I'm gonna need that burner phone now," she said.


	17. Yep, That's Me. A Warrior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

**18 years ago...**

Seylah was spit out of the endless darkness in the dead of night.

With only moments to take everything in, she saw that she was standing on the edge of the very same pit of tar she was tossed into however long ago, completely covered in the mud like substance. She saw metal stairways and platforms connected to the ops room accessed by keycard only, with specially sealed windows. She also heard an alarm going off to signal her return had not gone unnoticed.

But the most disturbing thing she noted was her stomach protruding in front of her.

Years of shutting down her emotions as she entered battle was the only reason she was able to meet the threat of the advancing guards. Quickly counting the number of men closest to her, she mentally prepared her escape.

Careful not to slip, she ran up the stairway. Midway to the top, with guards running down toward her, she grabbed the railing and jumped up to a crooked crouch on the edge before propelling upward to the side platform rails. She pulled herself through the slots, and sprang to her feet.

Guards were already rerouting toward her. She needed to get through them if she had a prayer of escape. She also needed a keycard.

They were closing in, though they would have to kill her as she refused to be captured and sent back to the pit again. Or worse, studied like a lab rat for whatever she harbored in her abdomen. Years of training made it easy to dispense with most of them. She kicked, she punched; she twisted and broke someone's neck. She managed to push one over the edge of the platform, ignoring their scream as they fell into the pit.

More and more kept coming at her though, and she was racing to come up with an alternative option when cries from the guards coming through the door registered.

Something else was rising out of the pit, and she lost half of her pursuers as they split their attention between them.

The added advantage of all the guards attacking meant the mud on her hands wiped off with each hit. She was able to grab a keycard without smudging the scan bar. She fought her way through a few more guards before finally reaching the door.

Fortunately, that one was propped open as another guard made his way through. She tripped him and pushed, sending him screaming into a free fall down the stairway into the pit.

Whatever else had risen from the pit was fighting for its life, much the same as she had. She didn't know what else had returned with her and she wasn't going to stick around to find out.

A guard she tangled with in the ops room had an actual gun on their belt instead of the tranquilizers the others held. Grabbing that, she used the bullets sparingly as she slid the card to escape the room and run through the long corridors.

She had been fighting all her life for survival. Nothing was going to stop her now.

She fled into the night, using the cover of darkness to escape from her pursuers. This was a secret army base and the vehicle doors were hardly ever locked. Why worry about someone stealing them? She easily crawled into one, being sure to keep her body from view. Preparing to hotwire it, she noticed the keys were still in the ignition. She started the vehicle and drove off, ignoring the shots ringing out. These vehicles were bulletproof, the only thing she had to worry about were the guards hopping into vehicles to follow her.

It didn't matter; she already knew where she was going.

She plowed through the front gate, once more ignoring the shots. She sped to a familiar low hanging bridge she had noted however many years ago as she traveled repeatedly through the region. Stopping in the middle, she ran out of the vehicle and made a perfect dive into the water beneath.

She swam along with the current beneath the surface, holding her breath longer than most could. She had been first trained by the best in a country where military service was required by all citizens—even women.

Eventually this water source would increase in current before falling over a cliff. She stayed beneath the surface as long as she dared before rising and searching for an outcropping, grateful for the moonlight that made it easier to see. She swam toward one side, hoping that was the one that would have what she needed.

Just as the current started picking up speed, indicating she had hit a down hill portion, she saw a group of rocks peaking through the surface. She tried to grab hold, slipping off the first one, but it gave her enough resistance to slow her down in order to grab the next.

The mud had long since washed away, so it was just her, clothed in her dark clothing, gripping for all she was worth until she was able to pull herself up and out of the water, clawing at the rocks.

Breathing in relief, she knew it wasn't over yet. She had to get out of this out cropping and find a place to hide in the trees along the forest side. Triad would comb this entire area, all along the riverbank. Hopefully they would eventually assume she had gone down into the falls and perished.

Making her way to land, she fled into the night, finding another vehicle to break a window and hotwire—a couple camping nearby would miss it come morning.

But by then, Seylah would be long gone.

* * *

"Now, what am I supposed to do with you," Seylah said to herself, looking down at her stomach.

Discovering only two years had passed since she went into Malivore, she was relieved as secret accounts she set up under pseudonyms were still active and accruing interest.

Not having to struggle to survive, at least financially, was a relief for her. Knowing that her former employer had forgotten she existed was perhaps an even bigger relief.

But that was where the relief ended.

Judging by the size of her stomach, she guessed she was five or six months along. Though given that she had no idea what was in there, it could be more or less.

She didn't know what happened to her in that pit to make this happen, but it tore at her. She trained all her life so no one could ever take advantage of her. She saw it happen to her mother when her father left for the states and started another family. Her mother fell into the worst situations, choosing the worst men and suffering for it. Seylah swore that she would never repeat her mother's mistakes.

To have _this_ happen to her with no memory of how? Or _what_?

She spent two years in complete isolation, the loneliness a constant. Even before, she never had many friends. Her mother long since dead, as well as her father though he had been dead to her years before—her mother had reported him dead after he left Israel so she could dissolve her marriage without the added stigma of divorce, leaving only one person she wanted to see.

Her little sister.

Her father had another family, so when Seylah was offered a job working in the states, she discretely sought them out in her free time. She never revealed to her employers that they existed, preferring to keep her business to herself. Discovering her father had passed away didn't bother her, but she was curious about the rest of the family. She found his new wife had also passed in a car accident just the year before, leaving behind their only daughter, Cynthia.

At first she had done it out of simple curiosity, wanting to know more about the girl. What she discovered was a comrade in arms. She was much like her, except she volunteered her service to this country while Seylah had been forced into hers. Not that Seylah didn't end up enjoying it more than she thought she would.

Once a month, if she could get away, she would make her way to Kansas to see her little sister. Eventually she befriended her at her favorite local coffee shop. It would be at least a year before Seylah finally told Cynthia the truth of their relation. Fortunately, her sister knew of their father's previous family but always thought they would be lost to her.

From that moment on, they would meet at that same coffee shop—with the _worst_ coffee in Seylah's opinion—once a month. Sometimes Seylah could only get away long enough to stay for an hour, but it didn't matter. It was enough.

Now Seylah longed for that relationship again. She hated to admit she needed anyone, but she did. She needed Cynthia to ground her, to calm the storm threatening to engulf her as she decided what to do with the fetus growing inside of her.

* * *

"You can join me," Seylah said with her slight accent. "I don't think there are any other options."

It was the busiest time of morning at the simple little coffee shop that had become a staple of their life. Her sister came to this place every day when she was on leave, so Seylah knew she would see her eventually. She arrived early to garner a table and waited.

Cynthia looked around, noted that she was correct, swished her honey blonde locks back, and sunk gratefully into the seat across from her. "Thank you."

Approachable as Seylah was aloof, Cynthia began chatting like she had known her all her life. That was just the way she was. Tough, but cool as a cucumber.

"What's that you have?" Seylah asked, noting that instead of coffee her sister had a smoothie of some green concoction.

"Vitamins in the grossest form possible," Cynthia held the cup up, giving it a mocking glare before setting it back down. "Can't have coffee right now, but I love the smell of it."

"Why not?" Seylah asked.

"Caffeine is bad for the baby," Cynthia said, before glancing down toward Seylah's own cup and bump. "Yours is decaf?"

"Uh, yes," Seylah lied. She hadn't even thought of that. She was ill prepared for this... she also didn't know how caffeine could hurt the child. She pushed her cup away anyway. "You're with child?"

Eyes twinkling, her sister's face lit up with a smile. "Yes, only a couple months along though. You look like you're nearly there. How far along are you?"

"Quite a few," Seylah hedged. "You're married then?" Cynthia hadn't even been dating anyone when she last met up with her. So much had changed in so little time.

"A year now," she nodded. "He's overseas. He doesn't know yet. Should be quite the surprise on our next video chat."

"Tell me about him," Seylah asked, relaxing as her sister worked her magic, making her feel like somehow everything would eventually work out.

* * *

Befriending her sister again proved to be just as easy as the first time. She kept her secret though, not revealing their blood ties again. She also wouldn't know _how_ to explain what happened to her as she had long kept the secret of magical creatures from her. Eventually she _did_ reveal that she didn't know who the father of her child was and, while she didn't explain the circumstances, she did indicate that she wasn't compliant in its conception.

They bonded over being alone in their pregnancies. Cynthia's husband wasn't due home until after the child was born, so she was grateful to have a friend by her side to support her through all the changes in her life. Seylah was grateful to have family with her as she took the biggest step in dealing with her own problem.

An ultrasound.

She knew it was risky to do this at a medical facility, but what other choice did she have? She would make a run for it if something truly scary showed up on that screen. It would mean leaving Cynthia, but if she was harboring a monster, perhaps it would be for the best.

With bated breath and an encouraging smile from her sister, she waited for the ultrasound technician to gasp or scream.

"Everything looks good," the tech said with a smile.

Looking at the screen herself, she saw a form that resembled what an actual human baby should look like. "There's... Nothing looks abnormal?"

"Nope!" the tech said brightly. "A perfectly healthy baby—do you want to know the gender?"

"It doesn't matter," Seylah said, distractedly staring at the screen.

"Boy!" the tech said. "It's a boy!"

Cynthia gripped her hand, smiling at her. "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if I were having a boy too? They could be best buds."

Seylah didn't have the heart to tell her yet that she wouldn't be keeping the baby. Knowing that the child was human changed everything.

Before, she was worried she would have to jump off the nearest cliff to kill whatever was growing inside of her. But, now?

She would give birth to this child, but she couldn't keep it. She didn't want to. She never wanted a child of her own, and due to her circumstances, she would spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. She couldn't do that with a child. She didn't _want_ to do that with a child. She didn't ask for this but neither had the child. She would give birth to him, but then she would give him up.

* * *

"Seylah?" The tearful voice coming through the phone line worried her.

"What's wrong, Cyn?"

"There... there was an attack. Max, he's...he's gone."

"I'll be right there," Seylah said.

Rushing to be by her sister's side was difficult as her stomach had ballooned even further. She had maybe one more month, and her feet and back were wishing it was over sooner rather than later.

She stayed by her side every step of the way though, gripping her hand during the 15 gun salute, letting go only as the folded flag was handed to her.

After that, Seylah moved in with her. There was no use keeping separate places, not when Cynthia needed her so much more now.

And Seylah still needed her too, for she had one last request.

She needed to give birth at home, not in a hospital. There couldn't be a paper trail between her and the child.

With the birth drawing nearer, she finally told Cynthia her intention.

"You're not keeping him?" Cynthia asked in disbelief.

"I can't," Seylah explained. "I'm not cut out to be a mother. I never even wanted to have kids. If this had never happened to me..."

As she trialed off, Cynthia nodded her understanding.

"And I don't want my name to even be on his birth certificate," she said. "I don't want him to ever track me down. No one should know their life began in such a violent way."

When the day finally arrived, Cynthia had everything ready. Seylah knew despite her wishes if anything went wrong during the birthing her sister would call for help. She sincerely hoped everything went smoothly.

It did.

Long hours after labor began, Cynthia was handing the baby to her so she could cut the cord.

Using a damp towel to wipe his little face, Seylah stared down at the beautiful child lying in her arms.

For one brief moment, she considered keeping him, but that moment didn't last long. Hers was no life for a child. She didn't want to deal with everything that would come. She had to give him up.

But, first, she would name him. Landon. She had always thought that was a beautiful name.

She spent two weeks with the child at home, making sure he grew strong enough and was developing well. Plus, she needed the time to recover before she could continue with her plans.

Cautious that her sister would continue to try to convince her to keep the child, she began to wear her old necklace with Triad's logo in the privacy of Cynthia's home as a reminder that her enemies were close and she shouldn't even _try_ to entertain the thought of keeping the child.

As suspected, during that time, Cynthia dropped many subtle hints that she should keep him. Even taking photos of Seylah with Landon against her wishes. Seylah destroyed all of the photos though.

She didn't know Cynthia kept one.

She also wouldn't know until seventeen years passed that her sister followed her that fateful day and waited for her to walk away before tucking the photo into the carrier with baby Landon, providing him with a name and clues to aid him in his search if he ever wanted to find his family—if he ever wanted to find his way back home.

* * *

**Present Day...**

Leaving for Kansas took longer than they anticipated. Hope and Clarke ended up spending all of the following day fighting monsters. By the time they were finally able to get on the road, night had fallen. Hope insisted they reach Lawrence before they stopped for the night, so he kept driving.

"Maybe Lizzie should get a burner phone too," Hope said. "That way I can call her and she can call me and we don't have to worry about being traced. Right?"

Looking heavenward, Clarke said, "I agree she should have one and give us the number, but only for an _emergency_. Look...I know you're bored but—"

"I'm not bored," Hope said with a look of surprise.

He raised an eyebrow at her. If she wasn't, then why was she being so quiet in between fighting monsters and kept wanting to call her friend?

Sighing, Hope said, "I'm just trying to distract myself from making a decision."

"In regards to?"

"I just...we don't know if you're immortal still," she said. "I keep thinking maybe I should be doing this alone."

"No."

"But—"

"No."

He pulled over to the side of the road. Stopping so he could turn to face her and make sure she heard him loud and clear.

"I'm not leaving you alone."

"If you die, you won't really have a choice in the matter," she said.

"You're stuck with me whether you like it or not," he said firmly.

"Okay," she said. Maybe she would stop feeling like she was being selfish now that he had taken the decision away from her. He didn't want to leave her alone. She couldn't really argue with that.

She gave him a small smile.

"For the record, I like it," she said.

He smirked at her before putting the car in drive again and taking off.

She quickly wrote out and sent a fire message to Lizzie about getting a burner phone. At least a fire message couldn't be traced by Triad.

He had hardly driven five miles after that before a large burst of fire flew at them in the darkness.

Cursing, Clarke swerved clear of the flame.

They pulled over immediately to investigate. There was an unspoken rule that they got clear of the vehicle as soon as monsters attacked so they didn't find themselves stranded.

Getting out, they ran for the woods to draw the monster away from the main road so there wouldn't be any witnesses even in the dark.

" _Another_ one!?" Hope exclaimed as she ran. "Isn't this, like, the _fifth_ one today?!"

"What, you thought they were gonna let up?" Clarke said, sprinting behind her.

They burst through the trees and came to a wide clearing with little to no cover.

She could see a large house in the distance with a barn far enough away from the house they wouldn't draw attention.

As another huge fire ball came through the trees, burning everything in its path before it hit the ground, she yelled, "Go for the barn!"

"Don't want to fight it here?" he asked.

"Not when you don't have anything to hide behind and I can't see what kind of monster I'm fighting," she said, racing forward again.

"Damn it, Hope," he muttered. He could take care of himself. He thought she already knew that. Why was she being so protective all of a sudden?

"Fire and barns don't mix!" He yelled at her but kept following her anyway.

They made it to the barn. She motioned for him to go inside while she turned back to search for their latest adversary.

Hope looked sharply all around, her vision seeing things in the dark most normally couldn't, but she didn't see anything. Not wanting to go far from Clarke in case she had to protect him, she went back inside and closed the barn door.

She sprinted from one end to the other, cursing when she saw the back side was wide open. If the monster circled around back, it could already be in there with them.

"Clarke?" she called out. "Where are you?" There was no answer.

Hearing shuffling from one of the horse stalls, she ran to it. Seeing a horse, of course, she decided to look in all the stalls.

At the third one, she was faced with a vision of a woman that practically glowed with long blonde hair, elf-like ears, a bright band around her head, and a short outfit made of white material that flowed around her.

She took it all in before the woman extended her hand, forming a large ball of fire that she shot straight at Hope above the stall door.

" _Expello!_ " Hope said, stopping the fire ball and sending it back at the woman, causing the stall door to fall forward off its hinges with the force.

When the fire ball missed its mark, hitting the back side of the stall, Hope remembered Clarke saying something about fire and barns. Cursing at seeing the fire hit the hay, she quickly put up a boundary spell around the cell, creating a force field so that nothing could get out or in—not fire, and especially not the strange woman.

The woman let loose with another fire ball but it sprang back at her this time when it hit the force field.

"That works too," Clarke said, coming up next to her.

She glanced at him. "Glad to see you're alive."

"I saw her," he shrugged. "Couldn't give myself away."

"Right," she said. "Now, what am I supposed to do with her?"

She looked at the woman in the stall, who was looking at her silently now.

" _Kill me_ ," Clarke said.

"Don't temp me," she grumbled.

" _Kill me_ ," Clarke said again.

Looking at Clarke, noting the change in his voice, she saw his eyes were glazed over. She glanced back at the woman in the stall who was still staring at her.

"What did you—"

" _He tortured us all,_ " Clarke said. " _In the dark, he made us tell him all of our secrets, everything about our powers. We were all alone until the cages opened. He will never let us free. Not all of us are evil, but all can only do his bidding._ "

"Who are you?" Hope asked the woman.

" _I am Joan, of Wad. Together with my beloved, Jack, we ruled the pixies. We meant no harm to others, just spread a little mischief for travelers, and guided them home with my wad—my torch—when asked..._

" _I don't want to hurt you. You have to kill me._ "

"Isn't there a way to free you?" Hope asked. She had read about the Queen of the Pixies in Cornish Folklore, as well as Jack of Lantern. She thought Joan would've been _much_ smaller though.

" _No. I revealed all my secrets except for this one. Mind control. Not even your legends know of it. I didn't know why he wanted to know my powers, could he access them? If so, well, you see why I kept my secret._ "

"What does that have to do with killing you?"

" _Because he will know, if not right now, it's only a matter of time. I need you to kill me before he figures it out. Kill me before he forces me to kill you._ "

"I could try to figure out another way..." Hope offered.

" _There's no time. You frighten him. You are the warrior this world needs to stop him. Stop this darkness and maybe one day I can be reunited with my beloved._ "

With great reluctance, Hope asked, "How do I... kill you?"

" _You must put out the light. Destroy its source. The crown._ "

Hope looked down, fortifying herself silently.

Clarke blinked. "That wasn't pleasant."

Hope turned around and walked with determination to the wall across from the stall. Grabbing the axe, she turned back toward the woman.

Sprinting forward as Joan once again conjured a ball of fire, Hope used her werewolf agility to jump high into a forward pounce, dropping the force field as she flipped over Joan's head.

Before Joan could even turn around, Hope landed swinging. The axe swung into the crown, destroying it and burying into the top half of Joan's skull.

The fire all around the stall went out, as did the light in the crown. 

The pixie queen collapsed.

Hope let go of the axe, stone faced despite the tears now sliding silently down her cheeks.

"Yep, that's me," Hope said. "A warrior."

She left the stall, Clarke following close behind.

"You're crying," he stated the obvious.

She wiped at her eyes and shrugged, continuing her walk out of the barn.

"You could've let me do it," he said, seeing how much it bothered her. He followed her.

She shrugged again.

"Each one makes it a little easier," she said.

"For what?" he asked.

She stopped and looked at him. "To do what we both know I might have to in order to end all of this."

He stared, surprised she had even contemplated having to kill Landon.

"I know you don't care," she said. "But for my sake...I hope it doesn't come to that."

With that, she turned and continued walking back across the clearing to the car.

She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever stop feeling like a monster.

* * *

**13 years ago...**

Five years after the birth of her son saw Seylah living a pleasant, if cautious life.

With Cynthia's help, she opened her own little coffee house, one with coffee much better than her sister's favorite. Since she loved to bake, she also served pastries and pies. The shop was moderately successful. She didn't have identification she wanted to chance using, but she wanted to run her own business. Putting everything in Cynthia's name made things much easier.

She didn't spend as much time with Cynthia anymore as life had many big changes for her. Her sister struggled with making a life for herself and her children. Nearly half a year after giving birth, Cynthia gave in to the loneliness with a one night stand that left her expecting again.

Having two little ones to chase after as well as maintaining a full time job made little time to spare for Seylah.

Seylah didn't mind. Now that the worst part of her life to date had passed, she just wanted to relax in the cautious peace she found for herself. They still made plans to get together at least once a month, and Cynthia stopped by for a coffee-to-go quite frequently. Seylah made it a point to never see her sister's children. Cynthia assumed it was too painful for her since she had given up her own child. The truth was, Seylah just really didn't like kids.

One bright and beautiful Sunday morning, a trip to the local market didn't go as planned.

She had just placed some tomatoes in her basket and excused herself as she walked around a man in her path.

Glancing up, she made eye contact with the man who gave her a surprised look.

Taking it in stride, she kept walking, but she knew something was wrong.

That man had recognized her, as she had recognized him. She had last seen him many years ago. He worked as a scientist for her former employers, Triad Industries.

She observed him as she checked out. She watched as he checked out too, then she followed him home.

Scoping out the house, she determined no one else was home before she rang the doorbell.

Seeing her, he quickly tried to slam the door shut but it was no use. She held up her gun, preparing to end his life, when he hollered out, "Wait! Wait! I can help you!"

"I don't need any help," she said, her finger ready at the trigger.

"I can restore the memories!"

She hesitated but still determined to shoot him if need be.

"How?"

"I don't work for Triad anymore," he said. "My wife got sick and they let me go to take care of her."

"You have thirty seconds," she had no patience for ridiculous details.

"But when I _did_ , my colleague and I were tasked with running all kinds of tests on the material from the pit," he hurried to explain. "One day we discovered a way to reverse it. To return all the memories."

She raised an eyebrow. She didn't think Triad would take kindly to that.

"My partner decided to use the serum, to see if it would work," he said. "When it did, he was quick to report our findings. He didn't mention me at all, but only because he wanted all the glory for himself."

"They killed him," she said.

"Yes," he nodded. "They didn't want something like that to exist."

"You took it," she observed.

"Yes," he nodded. "But only after I found a way to leave."

"What did you mean," she asked, "you could help me?"

"I have another vial," he said. "I could give it to you. There has to be someone you want to remember you. If you spare my life, I could help give you that?"

Thinking, she stepped back, lowering her weapon slightly. "Where is it?"

"Downstairs," he said hopefully.

"Let's go."

And give it to her he did, right before she shot him quickly through the forehead.

She pocketed the vial, knowing she wouldn't give it to Cynthia because she didn't need to, but she would tuck it away for a rainy day.

The man, though, he had to go. He recognized her.

She couldn't let anyone live who remembered her.

* * *

**Present Day...**

They had finally made it to Kansas but still weren't in Lawrence.

Hope decided she really needed to get some sleep, so they stopped in southern Kansas. They left bright and early the following morning though.

"Why is Kansas so important anyway?" Clarke asked. "Yeah, its possible Seylah sought out a friend or family, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"If it's a family member, we have a bloodline," Hope said. "You, of all people, should know the importance of a blood link." She used her finger to draw a magical line in the air, just to be silly.

He laughed slightly at that. He did indeed. He wouldn't be there now if it hadn't been for his essence linking to her via her blood.

"Do you think that will help get Malivore out of Landon?" he asked. He still thought it would be best to kill Landon and get it over with, but she was struggling with the idea so he would humor her.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Doctor Saltzman and Lizzie are working through the possibilities."

Seeing a rabbit in the middle of the road, she said quickly, "Don't hit the bunny!" She had enough senseless death to last a lifetime.

He missed it but not from trying, "It's a rabbit. If it doesn't move, its road kill." He shrugged.

He passed another rabbit, but this time he noticed something about it.

"Did that thing have teeth?"

"I think two?" she said, laughing. "Right up in the front? Kind of big and bulky?"

"There was nothing bulky about that," he said, twisting to try to see it again. "There was a bunch of them and they were pointy."

"Have you been watching B-rated horror flicks with Lizzie or something?" she asked. "Sounds like some random movie with scary rabid rabbits attacking."

Just then, one hopped from out of nowhere right onto the hood of the car, and yep, there were teeth. Lots of scary pointy teeth. Since when did rabbits hiss?

"Hit the bunny!" Hope exclaimed.

Clarke grabbed his gun and rolled down his window. Angling the gun, he managed to shoot the thing off the hood without damaging the car.

The rabbit basically exploded. _Good_. A 9 mm at close range on something so small would definitely blow it apart.

"There are more," she said, pointing.

"Looks like I finally get a turn," he said, happy to do something other than driving for once. "Climb over and take the wheel. I'll pick them off one by one."

She looked at him in amazement. "I don't drive. I haven't driven since I was fifteen."

He shook his head in exasperation. "Of course you don't. Gas on the right, break in the middle. This thing steers," he said motioning to the steering wheel.

"Come on," he insisted.

She really didn't feel like stopping the car to deal with a bunch of rabid bunnies, so why not let him handle it?

She looked at his side of the car. "How do I do this?"

He used the seat lever to slide back a little. He leaned back and motioned for her to move over in front of him. "Once you're over here, I'll take my foot off the gas and you can hold yours down while I slide out and over there."

She did as he instructed and ended up sitting on his lap before she steadied herself enough to lift up for him to scoot over. 

"Sorry, sorry," she apologized when he grunted on contact.

Once he made it over, he glanced at her. 

"Go fast enough they can't overrun us, but not too fast that I can't get a clean shot off. Moving target practice. This should be fun." He grinned.

"Right," she said, focusing on her footing and staying in the proper lane.

He rolled the passenger window down and shot another one.

"Don't you have a silencer or something?" she asked. That was _really_ loud.

"I'll use it next time," he said before shooting another one, and then another.

"This is ridiculous," she said. "I don't remember any legends about killer bunnies."

"Ever heard of the Easter bunny?" he asked.

"Peter Cottontail, hipidy hopidy, and all that. Yes, yes, I have," she said.

He shook his head. "Long ago, rabbits were regarded as familiars for witches by some. The witches, who were being persecuted, used black magic to turn hares into what you see. They were spelled to attack any who were enemy to the witches. If they were friend, not foe, the hare was docile and left these beautifully decorated eggs for them. Thus, where part of today's tradition came from."

"After this, I'm seriously gonna reconsider celebrating _any_ holidays!" she said, correcting the wheel when she started drifting to the side. At least she ran over a rabbit in the process.

"Except Christmas," he stated, smiling his lopsided grin at her.

"Except Christmas," she confirmed, grinning right back.

"Watch the road!" he said when she started drifting again. "Stay in the lane!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

* * *

Lizzie was beginning to feel like Hope's supernatural secretary.

 _Do this spell, get a burner phone. Take out the trash._ Okay, that last one was just made up, but whatever. Hope spoke and she jumped.

Not that Lizzie minded _much_ since this problem was partly hers to fix. She was just _really_ impatient. Who knew she would have to wait an entire day for Vincent Griffin to get back to her on how to do that lineage spell? The current leader of the witch faction in New Orleans had apparently been _busy_ , and when he did contact her, he wondered why she wanted to do the same spell he did last year? He told Landon then that his family was in Kansas. Lawrence, to be exact.

Making a face, she patiently explained the circumstances, to which he apologized for taking so long. _Rude_. Hope probably could've done this spell last year herself if she hadn't been trying to get Landon on a bus and as far from the school as quickly as possible. The only lineage spell the rest of them knew required blood. Mr. Griffin knew one that just required DNA.

In the meantime, Lizzie was going back and forth with her father, trying to figure out what to do _if_ there were other blood ties.

"Dad, if this actually works, what's our next step?" she asked, preparing the spell first thing that morning.

"Well, I was thinking..." Alaric began. "So, Malivore is in Landon. But according to Hope, the pit is a hell dimension now that exists separate from Malivore... Malivore had his own body before he dissolved into the pit though. I'm still trying to theorize this all out, but what if a body, _his_ body, actually still exists separate from the pit too? What if Josie recreated his body when she recreated Clarke's?"

"But how is that even possible?" Lizzie asked. "I mean, what if Landon just fell into the pit somehow and that gave Malivore the chance to take him over?"

"Also a possibility," Alaric sighed. "But if there actually _is_ a body, then he would probably store it in the pit, right?"

"What does this have to do with Landon's possible family ties?"

"If a body existed, we could destroy it," he explained. "... Somehow."

"How are we supposed to do that if it's in the pit?" she asked.

"Because we know someone in the pit who will probably be more than willing to help us out," he said. "Especially if it would mean saving her son."

"So, let me get this straight," Lizzie said. "If there's another family member, you want to use their blood tie to connect to Landon's mother— _not_ Landon—inside of a hell dimension and send her on a supernatural scavenger hunt for a body that may or may not exist? And then have her somehow destroy it? From inside the pit?"

"Maybe we could figure out a way to get her and the body out instead?" Alaric suggested. "That way _we_ could destroy it?"

"Seeing as how three long dead supernaturals were the only ones who could destroy the body to begin with," Lizzie said, "I don't think this'll work. But it's all we've got right now."

"If there're no blood ties, it doesn't really matter anyway. So, go ahead and do the spell," Alaric said. "MG?"

MG, who had been patiently waiting for his turn, came forward for Lizzie to grasp his hands. The lineage spell could take a while to show them what they needed to know, so she would siphon power from him throughout the process. An added bonus being that Hope's blood still ran through his veins, so it would barely affect him.

She grabbed Landon's hair brush to put in the sacred circle to prepare, hoping there was enough DNA from the hair to make sure it worked.

Holding on to MG, Lizzie closed her eyes to begin but had a thought. She opened her eyes suddenly.

"Wait. If getting Clarke his body back also got Malivore _his_ body back...what happens to Clarke if we destroy Malivore?"

Alaric didn't have an answer. "Let's...just find out if there's a link for now. We'll figure out the rest later..."

"Because Hope would be alone out there somewhere if something happened to him," Lizzie went on, ignoring what he said.

"If Malivore is destroyed, Hope won't have to worry about fighting monsters anymore, so she won't need Clarke," Alaric said.

She got the feeling Hope wouldn't see it that way.

Seeing her face, he hurried to say, "Like I said, we'll figure the rest out later. We don't know anything right now."

Placated for the moment, and knowing that either way they needed to know if there was a connection, Lizzie proceeded with the spell.

When all was said and done, three tiny white lights shown on the map.

And all three were in Mystic Falls.

* * *

**1 year ago...**

When her son showed up and she saw the photograph, Seylah realized immediately what her sister had done.

Seylah also didn't believe the boy was who he said he was at first.

What seventeen year old boy had the resources to track her down? No, she figured this 'chance' encounter had more to do with the necklace she wore in the picture than anything else. Cynthia had set into motion the events that would make Seylah's cautiously pleasant life crumble to dust.

Her paranoia convinced her _this_ was a spy and torture was the only way to deal with one of those.

When he actually mentioned monsters _and_ monsters began to attack, she realized that maybe this could be the real deal. Running to hide him, she tried to figure out what to do next. She gave him up to protect him from the very things chasing them. Monsters and Triad.

She listened to his entire story and his struggles with foster care, so when his new school's headmaster showed up with Hope, her son's girlfriend, she felt confident in leaving him with them. He may have lived a crappy life for some time, but now he was definitely better off. He just needed to escape the very same people who had taken her life from her.

She only told this Alaric the truth because she already made her decision to go back to the pit. Everyone needed to forget her again, including her son. Still, she knew things could be written down, so she refused to tell her former employer's location or even it's name. She also lied and said she had woken in the middle of nowhere when she was released from the pit. Again, to preserve its location.

In the end, returning to the pit was easier than she thought it would be. She knew it couldn't end the same as before, she had long since had a procedure done to prevent any future pregnancies. She also knew that her entire existence would be erased once more, though she had taken precautions so that the _one_ most important person to her would never forget again. It was best that Landon forget all about her and the circumstances of his birth. It was best that everyone else forgot too, so that Triad couldn't find him.

She would do this one last thing for him.

Because, in her own way, she loved him.

**2 weeks after that...**

Cynthia stood, absentmindedly clasping her hand around her necklace. She suddenly realized she didn't remember it. She had worn it for a couple weeks now, wearing it without even thinking about it. She took it off and looked inside the locket. There was a picture of her kids on one side, and some strange numbers engraved on the other. What they signified, she couldn't remember. Maybe she was losing her mind?

This wasn't the first time she had that thought. When she had gone to her favorite coffee shop, the owner didn't remember her which was weird because she had been going there for over twenty years, hadn't she? For some reason, the taste of the coffee wasn't as good as she remembered either.

Shrugging, she closed the locket just as she heard a knock at her front door.

"Steve?" she asked, surprised to see an officer from the county that she knew.

"I thought that was you," he said. "We've had a report of vandalism at one of your properties. We've been trying to reach the direct contact, but it seems that person's missing. So the next step was to contact the owner."

"So...why don't you contact the owner?" she asked, confused. And what did he mean, 'one of your properties'? She only owned the house she was standing in.

"That's why I'm here..." he said, frowning. " _You_ are."

The next few hours were the most confusing blur of activity since the coffee shop moment. How could she possibly forget that she _owned_ a property? The deed said it all though, and it had her signature. She filed the necessary paperwork to report the vandalism. She went to a coffee shop that she swore she had never been to before. Who was Seylah? Or was that just a name used on the shop?

She couldn't tell Steve if anything was missing because she didn't know! She _did_ know she would have to spend a lot of time throwing things out. The majority of the food items in the fridge had gone bad. The fruits on the counter in the back were growing mold and fruit flies swarmed her when she entered.

Steve told her the primary contact for the property was listed as a Seylah Smith, and she lived at a home that was _also_ in Cynthia's name. They didn't know whether to list her as a missing person or not because no one could tell if she had ever existed to begin with, and there were no photographs to provide a description.

Steve finally left when he did everything he was required to do, and she sat bewildered, trying to understand.

She returned to the back office and started going through the desk. Maybe that would offer some clues? No photographs were found, nothing personal at all. Everything else was organized pristinely: receipts, work orders, and payroll... that confused her even more. If this Seylah was missing, wouldn't there be employees searching for her too? Wouldn't they wonder why their place of employment hadn't opened in weeks?

During her search, she discovered a safe hidden in the floorboards under a rather sturdy table. She found it strange considering there was already a large heavy safe sitting by the wall in plain view. The vandals hadn't been able to access that one either. Sighing, she resolved to call in a safe expert along with a locksmith tomorrow.

Sitting back, she grasped her necklace and worried it as she looked around, still trying to understand how any of this could be real.

Suddenly, she remembered the numbers etched in the locket. _I wonder_...

She took off the necklace and went to open the floor safe using the numbers etched inside.

Shocked when the combination actually worked; she opened it to reveal a photo of herself next to a woman with long black hair. Their facial structures were remarkably similar, though she had a slight dimple in her chin from her mother. Who was this? Was it the missing Seylah? Why did she look like her? The only other thing in the safe was a vial of some sort with a note attached to it.

_Ready to go down the rabbit hole? Drink this._

She knew she shouldn't drink strange random things, but there was too much going on here that was unexplained. Properties she owned but didn't remember buying, a locket she didn't remember wearing, a coffee shop owner who hadn't seen her in so long she forgot her, and now a photograph she definitely never remembered taking.

Feeling like she was losing her mind even more, she opened the lid on the vial. Sniffing it, she shook her head.

"Bottom's up."

* * *

**5 months ago...**

Living in solitude and isolation most of her life, the endless darkness didn't bother Seylah that much anymore, especially not now that she had thoughts of her son to occupy herself. All she had were a couple of days with him where he spent most of the time passed out from the drug she slipped into his food. But, oh, could she imagine it.

She envisioned him growing up, imagining how his life must've been. She saw him finding moments of happiness somewhere along the way, wondering how a child could go through so much and still come out a good person. And he was a good person. Once she accepted him for what he was, she could see it for the truth. Her boy was stubborn and surrounded by danger, but he was also surrounded by people who cared about him. One press of a button on a magical bracelet and they came running.

She thought about the girl, Hope, and wondered how Landon's relationship with her was going. The girl was strong, sassy, and fiercely protective. She liked that about her.

Time must've passed but she had no idea how long for. She wondered if she would age in here until she withered and died.

Sometimes she wished she could fall asleep and dream the time away. But she couldn't. Not here. Sleep wasn't needed or possible, so dreams were obsolete.

There was only memories and imaginings and nothing but darkness...

Until suddenly everything changed.

Dropping from out of the void, like a lock had been sprung on her cage, she was suddenly able to move. She wondered around, barely able to see, but see she did, enough to be wary of the shadows she saw beneath the near darkness.

What had changed? She didn't know.

And she couldn't help but wonder if she would have been better off still stuck in her cage, alone but safe from whatever the darkness hid.

* * *

**2 weeks ago...**

"Oh no, I do _not_ like this at all!" Chad said, looking around. It was dark and scary and he could barely see _anything_. What had he signed up for?

"Hope?" Chad called out. "Lizzie?! I changed my mind! Get me out!"

"Hope!" he yelled.

He cowered back when he heard an answering growl in the distance.

"You're going to have them all on you in ten seconds if you don't keep quiet," he heard a voice whisper to him.

"Who are you?" Chad squinted, trying to see despite the dark.

"It matters not," a female voice with a slight accent replied. "You know Hope?"

"Yeah, she's kind of why I'm here," he said, lowering his voice as instructed. "Like, it was her idea but I went along with it and jumped in, I just didn't think..."

"You chose to come here?" she asked.

"Yeah," he looked down. "It was my fault someone died. I needed to do my part to fix it."

"You and I have something in common then," she said.

"How do we get out of here?" he asked.

"We don't," she said. "We just survive."

"I'm not sure how good I'll be at that," he said.

"We never know what we're capable of until we're put to the test," she said.

"I _really_ hope I don't fail," Chad said.

* * *

**Present Day...**

Cynthia hung up the phone and laid back in her chair, sighing. The morning had only just begun, but it was going to be a long day.

"Hey, Sheriff Mac?"

Cynthia glanced up at her deputy.

"We've got another 187."

Sheriff Cynthia Machado rose immediately. "Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I listened to “Warrior” by Avril Lavigne on repeat while writing this chapter. I feel like that song perfectly sums up all of the women here. I encourage everyone to give it a listen._ [SPOTIFY](https://open.spotify.com/track/27wvjuKafcmKhoLcBcJ0uO?si=CeE_03r1SlmAuUKQElK3TA) or [YOUTUBE](https://youtu.be/F78kmovZ5pE)
> 
>  _Quite coincidentally, Avril Lavigne also released an alternative version of this song today, called "We Are Warriors" as a way to raise funds for PROJECT **HOPE** in their ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts around the world , turning her original song into one that encompasses all of us as we struggle to get through this. You can listen to that version here: _ [SPOTIFY](https://open.spotify.com/track/15fb3LJiJbuc5s272jXdUq?si=Agm4Y1j-TgieoPZqo3yCXQ) or [YOUTUBE](https://youtu.be/Q1rTK15zVJM). 
> 
> _You can support their mission[HERE](http://www.CharityStars.com/)._


	18. Landon Doesn't Live Here Anymore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

"Think anyone's home?" Hope asked as Clarke pulled along the sidewalk across the street from Seylah's old house, wincing as the morning sun nearly blinded her. Clarke had sunglasses, but she had never bothered to pick any up. She probably should.

They had left southern Kansas at the crack of dawn, and since they didn't have to pull over to deal with the evil bunnies, they just switched back when it seemed like they were all dead. Driving on through, they had made it to Lawrence in a couple hours.

"There was no indication anyone lived there besides her when Triad searched the property," he said, putting the car in park and studying the outside for any differences.

The field report of searching Seylah's house hadn't been written before Triad's memories were wiped, mostly because they thought they had time. There had been no scheduled absorptions and who could guess anyone would ever willingly jump in? Only _he_ had retained the knowledge, and he wasn't going to report any of it—not when he finally figured out his father's mission for him.

"You know," he said with realization, "This is where we first met… _Jessica_."

Wrinkling her nose, she said, "Since the _next_ time we met you remembered that horrible name, it must've made _some_ kind of impression."

"Some kind," he agreed warmly.

She shifted and nodded, but she wasn't sure anymore how to respond to these kinds of moments with him. They had been happening more and more frequently. Was he flirting with her? If so, it wasn't blatant flirting. He was just bringing up things that had happened between them and giving them a positive spin. It made her think on some of their crazier moments fondly now that she knew him better.

Just then, there was activity at the house. A woman came out tugging along two little kids in backpacks with a man following and locking the door behind.

"Do you think that's her family?" Hope asked.

"Doubtful," Clarke shrugged.

As they approached a vehicle, Clarke undid his seatbelt and opened his door.

"What're you doing?"

"Gonna ask a few questions," he said, tossing his sunglasses on the dash and climbing out. "Stay here."

He closed the door and walked away quickly.

She watched him approach the man and engage him in conversation.

He was really good at that, getting things done. He had created a cover to show the entire world, one that got him what he wanted or where he needed to be. He wasn't like that with her though. He never pretended to be anything he wasn't. He was unapologetically himself, and he seemed a lot happier for it than when she had first met him.

Shaking her head at her thoughts, she felt a charge in the air before a message arrived from Lizzie.

Reading that Landon—which meant Seylah as well—had three relatives who were currently in _Mystic Falls_ actually disappointed her a little. She had been excited to do something other than fight monsters. But, she really should just focus on her given task and let everyone back home see what they could do since they didn't have the same problem as her. 

Lizzie had ended the message with the number from her new burner phone.

She looked up when he opened the door and climbed in.

"They bought the house nearly a year ago," he replied before she could say anything. "They're not her family" He grabbed his sunglasses and put them back on.

"I know," she said, holding up the note. "Why didn't you wear the shades to talk to him?" He was usually _very_ cautious about other people seeing his face.

"You don't approach a man when he's alone with his family without a visible friendly face. It'll make him feel threatened." He took the note from her and read it quickly. "Mystic Falls? That's highly suspicious."

"I know that too," she said.

He folded the note and put it in his jeans pocket. "No one should've remembered Seylah until the memories were returned a month or so ago. So no one should've known to sell it."

"And even then, how would they know to go to Mystic Falls? _Why_ would they go to Mystic Falls?" she frowned down at his pants. "That's _my_ note."

"The number is for emergencies," he said, starting the car.

" _God_ ," she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Sometimes you are _really_ annoying!"

"One of my finer traits," he smirked.

* * *

Jed reigned in his werewolf power and kicked the ball to Ethan as gently as possible. It still zoomed to him a little too quickly, but fortunately his new friend could handle it.

Ethan got in front of it, stopping it with a foot on top, then took a moment to show off some fancy footwork before shooting it back to Jed.

Jed easily took control and kicked it up in the air so he could bounce it off one knee, then the other, before spinning around to kick it up again from behind. Spinning back around, he let it fall to the ground before returning it to Ethan.

"Nice one!" Ethan said, accepting the volley back to him. "You should try out in spring."

Jed shrugged. He wasn't allowed to try out for any teams here. Doctor Saltzman had been very firm on that. The sports teams were for human kids. He didn't want Jed to accidentally hurt any of them, _or_ have the unfair advantage. Jed was bummed about it, but he was here for a mission, not to play sports with humans.

"I am," Ethan said. "I'd go for wrestling too, but, you know, can't." He held up his arm with the cast on it.

"When's it coming off?" Jed asked.

"Not sure," Ethan shrugged like it didn't bother him, but it did.

"It's not healing the way it should, apparently," Ethan continued and frowned. "It looks like something is out of place? I hope they don't have to re-break it."

The annual football game with the Salvatore School had already cost him enough. He didn't want it to take away the rest of his senior year too. Plus, while he was there for his team on the sidelines, he still felt distanced from them. Some of them, like Dennis, sneered at his support on and off the field. Since he no longer held his same status on the football team, guys like Dennis were less likely to follow his lead when it came to treating others with respect. It had caused fights that led to detention, something he had never been involved with much before coming to this school.

Befriending the new kid had made things a bit easier. Jed was cool.

"That sucks man," Jed said. "Who's your doc? Doctor Salvatore is a pretty good one."

"She's the one we just saw, but we were seeing a different one before," he said. "Mom's really pissed."

"I bet."

Ethan kicked the ball back to Jed, and they did that back and forth for a few rounds, nothing fancy this time.

"So…"

Jed looked up.

"Josie." Ethan said. "You interested?"

"Josie?" Jed asked with a laugh. "No."

Ethan nodded.

"She's nice and all though," Jed said.

"She seeing anybody?" Ethan asked.

Jed shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Think she'd be into it if I asked her out?" Ethan asked.

Again, Jed shrugged. "She swings both ways, so you definitely have a fifty/fifty shot."

Ethan nodded.

"You gonna ask?" Jed asked.

"Thinking about it," he said.

"Cool," Jed said.

"Last girl I thought about asking out kinda disappeared," Ethan said. "She transferred to your old school and I never heard from her again."

"Oh, Hope," Jed said. "Yeah, don't waste your time there. She's definitely taken."

"Figures," Ethan said, slightly disappointed. He should've tried when he had the chance instead of playing coy to get _her_ to make the first move. "You got a girl? Or a guy?"

"I've got my eye on this girl at my old school," Jed replied. "She's a bitch, but a hot one." And if Kaleb could stop trying to move in on _his_ territory, he might actually be able to continue what he started on Hope's bed. _Sorry, Hope!_

"Maybe we could make it a double?"

Jed laughed out loud. "Alyssa would rather eat nails than go anywhere with Josie. Bitch, remember?"

Ethan laughed. "Sounds like a real keeper."

Jed shrugged. She wasn't such a bitch when he was making out with her.

"I'll just ask Maya instead," Ethan said. "Maybe she and Jade would want to."

"Or, just ask Josie out alone?" Jed suggested.

"I don't know that much about her," Ethan shrugged. "Figured this way we could break the ice with people we know."

"Here they are now…" Jed said, nodding across the front lawn.

Josie, Jade, and Maya were coming to meet up with them. Class would start in a few minutes, but they had gone across the way into town for iced coffees and breakfast smoothies before the first bell rang.

"Bring me anything?" Jed called.

"A hot steaming cup of dog poo," Jade called back sweetly.

"My favorite!" he called back, knowing she was teasing him about being a wolf.

Of course the girls had brought them something. Jade and Josie were sort of stuck with Jed, and Maya got along with Ethan well enough she would get her big brother something if he asked.

Josie walked over and handed Jed his hot chocolate. "Here. Extra marshmallows."

"The best, man," Jed exclaimed. "Thanks."

Jade was carrying Ethan's smoothie. "Here. She had her hands full."

Maya had a mouth full of brownie. She waved the hand with the brownie at Ethan while holding up her other hand showing her iced coffee.

He took it but looked down at it suspiciously. "There isn't any animal feces in this, is there?"

Jade laughed. "No, just fruit, yogurt, and the kale and whey you asked for."

Ethan took a drink as they all started walking to the entrance before heading to class.

Josie hung back a little, watching Ethan.

He didn't do anything differently. She kept waiting for him to maybe stop and look at his cast like he realized the arm had miraculously healed, but he didn't.

If anything, he just looked down at the drink strangely before shrugging and continuing on to class.

Jade fell back into step with her once they got inside and whispered, "Anything?"

"No… did you even put it in there?" Josie asked, not understanding why it hadn't worked.

" _Yes_ ," Jade insisted. "One smoothie with a vamp flavor shot."

"I think you're lying," Josie whispered back, glaring at her.

"Why? Because it took so long to convince me?" Jade glared right back. "I wouldn't have agreed if Maya hadn't said they might have to do surgery to re-break it. But I _did_ agree. I put it in there!"

"Yeah, _oh_ kay," Josie said, still glaring.

"Maybe the blood was at the top and has to make its way down?" Jade offered. "He'll drink it, just needs to finish it first."

"I hope you're right."

* * *

"I don't get it," MG said, frustrated. "How come Jade can pass the test on the second try and I can't when I've been trying for weeks?"

"She's older? She's been vamping longer? She knows what it's like to turn off her switch?" Lizzie listed, exasperated. Would MG ever let it go? "Take your pick."

"I'm one year older than her though," he said.

"In _actual_ age, yes," Lizzie said. "You're seventeen, she's sixteen. But she's been sixteen for at least ten years, if not more. You've only been seventeen for, what, two or three years now?"

"So you're saying I might not figure this out for ten more years?" MG asked.

"No," Lizzie huffed. "I'm saying that you need to chill so we can concentrate on finding Frodo's relatives. I want to see where the other Hobbits live."

Those three lights on the map had been on the move since Lizzie conjured them that morning. Two were currently at Mystic Falls High, so she had to abandon the search for those. She was going to look for the other one. Her father trusted her to proceed cautiously in her search. Of course, given that Seylah was completely human, they figured her family members were too so there shouldn't be any danger.

She brought MG along just in case and because, well, it was MG and she had been attached to him at the hip lately. Josie aside, he was her best friend, even moreso than Hope. He supported her through all her crazy schemes and accepted her for herself, even before she took the steps to try to be a better person. When he nearly died, she had been confronted with the horrible possibility of not having him in her life and that just _wouldn't_ do.

While she knew he always had a thing for her, it hadn't changed anything even when she was pursuing other guys. He didn't need to be _with_ her to be there for her. He just looked past those feelings and helped her, never complaining or asking for more than she was willing to give.

She knew it was crazy to pursue anyone else when she had someone she could communicate with so well already, she just wasn't sure she would ever have other feelings for him. She couldn't force herself to, that wouldn't be fair to him or her.

For now, she was just happy to embrace his friendship more than she had before and be grateful for what she still had. Hope's blood was to thank for that.

"The third light is on the move again," MG said, holding up the map.

"Great," Lizzie sighed and signaled to turn left. "Just a quick U-turn and we'll be on our way. Hopefully we get this over with fast. I have a test later. Dad may not mind me or you missing so much class to help save the world, but I, for one, just want to get it over with."

"We could make it up when Hope does?" MG suggested.

Lizzie scoffed. "Yeah, right. She's missed so much class, she'll probably have to repeat the entire year. That I do _not_ want to do."

"I'm sure Doctor Saltzman will work with her," he said.

"Let's just hope she gets through all of this so she's _around_ to fail senior year," Lizzie said. "And _hopefully_ we don't get to commiserate with her in summer school."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he insisted.

"Keep that positivity going strong, MG," Lizzie said with a smirk. "That's the spirit!"

"Where are we anyway?" MG looked around as the street turned into a country road, with forest on both sides and no other cars around.

"There are some houses out here somewhere," Lizzie said.

They followed the light on the map until she pulled over on the side of the road.

"Right here?" MG asked, glancing down at the map again and back up.

"No, silly," Lizzie said. "The map shows that we need to get out and go through those trees right there. Just make a straight line for a bit, and voila, ' _our precious_ ' shall be revealed."

Shaking his head at another Lord of The Rings quote, he got out and waited for her to join him.

She led the way with him following closely behind.

"Keep your ears pealed," she said.

"I am," he said.

"Do you see anything yet?" she asked.

"No," he said.

They continued on a bit more through the woods.

"Um, hey, Lizzie?" he finally asked.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't it weird that Landon's family member is, like, in the middle of nowhere?"

"You mean, like, _middle-earth_?" she whispered.

"We're not taking a trip to the Shire, Lizzie," MG said.

"Surely not!" Lizzie said quickly. Trips to the Shire were reserved only for Josie or Hope or whoever the garden gnome had successfully roped into falling for him that week.

"Shh," MG said suddenly. "I think I hear something."

Pausing, they both listened and eyeballed the trees around them.

"Hello!" Lizzie called out suddenly. "I've found your long lost oompa loompa! And I _really_ hope you're not a bad egg."

"And I _really_ hope you two can explain why you're at my active crime scene," Sheriff Mac stepped out from behind a tree with a gun trained on them.

MG moved in front of Lizzie immediately. "We were just, you know, taking the scenic route."

"You have five seconds to tell me the truth," the sheriff demanded.

"So, here's the thing," Lizzie said, glancing at the map. "I think we're here looking for you..."

The sheriff raised an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't happen to have an international spy for a cousin or a sister… or a bushy headed bird for, oh, say, a nephew, would you?" Lizzie asked.

The sheriff stepped back and lowered her weapon slightly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, _you know_ ," Lizzie accused. She had seen the slight look of recognition on the sheriff's face even though she was confused. "Ha! Wait 'til I tell my dad!"

* * *

"Put your foot on the break and move the gear shift into drive," Clarke instructed.

Hope did as he said. She remembered this part, sort of. It had been a long time though, so it was probably best he start from the beginning.

"Now, ease up and it'll start moving, then use the gas pedal to pick up speed," he said.

She did it with more confidence than she probably had, but they _were_ in the middle of a pretty empty parking lot. Since they didn't have to track down the blood ties, Clarke had suggested he teach her how to drive while they waited for the next monster to attack.

"Not too hard on the gas," he said when she started picking up too much speed. "Ease up a little."

"Good," he said when the speed leveled out. "Now, break when we reach the other side."

She came to a full stop as requested.

"Keep your foot on the break, and move the gear shift to reverse."

She did that and waited.

"Now ease your foot off but turn the wheel to the right a few times as you back up. Stop turning and break again when you're facing that store," he pointed to their left.

She did and grinned when the car's rear went to the right and she found herself facing in a completely different direction.

"Now move the gear back into drive and ease off the break while you turn the wheel to the _left_ a few times this time."

Now she was facing back in the direction she had come from.

"All there is to it," Clarke said.

"Should we switch back then?" she was a bit disappointed. This was the first time they were doing anything that didn't require running for survival and she didn't want to stop just yet. Also, she kind of wanted more practice now.

He shook his head. "Go that way and turn right onto the main road. Might as well make sure you get used to it in case you have to take over again."

Nodding, she drove slowly up to the exit.

"Make sure you pick up speed once you're on the road," he said. "Look for the speed limit and don't go more than _five_ above. You don't have ID and getting pulled over is the last thing we need."

She eased onto the road, making sure no other vehicles were approaching first, and then she was doing it! Driving on the open road in a _low_ stress situation this time.

"I can't believe it's been three years since I last did this," she said.

"Considering you were driving illegally then, kind of ironic you're driving illegally again now," he said.

"My mom and her boyfriend were teaching me to get me ready for the test when I was old enough," she explained.

"You mean your uncle?" he asked.

"No…" she remembered telling him that Mom had fallen for Dad's brother. "Uncle Elijah had put part of The Hollow in him too, remember? He couldn't be around me, and since Mom was the one raising me, he couldn't be around her either—or the rest of the family for that matter."

Clarke couldn't imagine what that must've been like for the man, having to stay away from everyone including the woman he loved.

"So he asked my brother to compel him to erase all of his memories," she explained, while stopping at a stop sign. She knew the signs well, even if she hadn't used them herself in years. "He had everything wiped clean, including the promise of always and forever."

"But isn't that your family's…" He trailed off. He didn't want to give anything away about the Sphinx, but he did recall her telling him about the importance of family by using that phrase. _And since when did she have a brother?_

"It means everything to us," she said, easing off the break again and crossing the road. "It's the greatest legacy they could've left me. And it meant everything to him. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay away from any of us unless he forgot."

"Sounds bleak," he said. "Forgetting everything like that. His own permanent death, like the memories being wiped from the world of those in Malivore. But in reverse."

"If he had known what would happened after that, he never would've done it," she went on. "She died senselessly. It was my fault, but he could've saved her if only he had remembered her. When he _did_ get his memories back, he would only blame himself. If he hadn't died with my father after that to save me, he would've tortured himself until the day he died for his mistake."

She cleared her throat as the emotions threatened to choke her.

"He _was_ the last person I drove with though, 'til now," she finally said, smiling slightly. "The night of my first full moon. I got to drive his Bentley," she boasted.

"Nice," he replied.

She looked at him, realizing he knew more about her past than anyone else and she didn't really mind it. In fact, she felt completely comfortable telling him all of these things. She hadn't told him all the details of her mother's death, but she felt like she _could_ do so without fear he would judge her for the hand she had in it.

"Hope! Watch out!" he yelled, cursing and grabbing the wheel to turn towards him as she drifted into the next lane.

She looked and realized it was too late to avoid a collision with the car coming in the opposite direction.

Tossing out her hand, she used magic to push the cars apart at the last second.

Somehow, miraculously, they didn't hit anything.

"Maybe you should pull over," he said, grabbing hold of the handle at the top of the door.

"I'll focus, I promise," she said, heart still racing.

Just then, a small rock flew out of nowhere and bounced off the top of the vehicle. Then another came out and pelted the hood, another at the passenger side door.

"Monster?" he said, looking around.

She looked in her mirrors, searching.

"That's so strange," she said. "We haven't seen anything all morning and then…"

"You know what…" Clarke considered, in deep thought now too.

"Is it my imagination or…" she said, thinking back through all of the monsters she had faced starting with Pegasus. The winged horse had shown up _right_ after she sent a fire message to Aunt Freya.

"The monsters always show up _right_ after—" he started.

"I do magic," she finished.

* * *

"Did you really have to bring them in?" Alaric asked, settling into the seat across from Mac at her desk.

"They were at my crime scene," she said. "Standard procedure."

"Right." He winced knowing Lizzie probably wasn't too happy to be sitting in a police station right now. He had only seen her in passing, but she looked annoyed.

"I just brought them in for questioning, Ric," she said. "I'm not holding them."

"That's a relief," he said.

"They insist they were looking for me anyway," she shrugged. "So once you give me permission to talk to her—"

" _You?_ " Alaric asked, shocked. "But…" He distinctly remembered passing out when Josie returned all of the Malivore memories. If she was the long lost relative of Seylah and Landon, she should've passed out too. Something didn't add up here.

"Yes?"

Leaning back, he stared at her. "So what brought you to Mystic Falls?"

Blinking at the change in conversation, the sheriff was momentarily sidetracked.

"Your file said you moved here from Richmond, right? You said the city?" he asked.

"Yes…" she answered slowly.

"Really though?" he said skeptically.

"I don't see how where I lived before has to do with anything."

"Were you living in Richmond a year ago too," he stated, not actually asking. "Because I don't think you did. I think you lived in Kansas. Either in Lawrence or somewhere nearby."

"Why don't you just ask me what you really want to know since you seem to think you have all the answers," she said, frowning.

"Does the name 'Seylah' ring any bells?" he asked.

Mac sat up straight and leaned forward suddenly.

"A gong, apparently," he said, seeing her reaction.

"Do you know her?" she asked. "Have you seen her?"

"No, but I know where she is," he said. " _How_ do you know her?"

"She's my sister," she revealed.

"Yeah, but _how_ do you know her?" he asked again.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," he sighed. She was hardly the type to believe in things like this, given her reaction to knowing that supernaturals existed. That's why he had Kaleb erase her knowledge of them.

"Try me," she said firmly.

Taking a breath, he explained as easily as he could, "There exists a place where all who enter are forgotten from the minds of everyone they've ever met."

"Where is this place?" she asked.

"You believe me?"

"I believe something has happened to my sister twice now," she said. "Something that took my memories. If she's in this place, how do I get her out?"

"You don't," he said. " _We_ will, or at least we'll try. We need your help though."

"Anything," she said. "I just want to find my sister."

"Is that what brought you here?" he asked. "Because I don't know of anything linking Seylah to Mystic Falls except for—"

"I'm searching for my nephew," she said. "When I got my memories back, I realized the child Seylah gave up all those years ago was actually family. There's only so many babies with his name left on church steps. I traced him to foster homes in Richmond, and then to Mystic Falls. The trail ran cold here. I know he had a job at the Mystic Grill, but his last foster family has no idea where he went. I don't suppose you know where I can find him too?"

"About that…"

* * *

Swiping the keycard, Hope swept into the room in front of him.

"My driving's getting better, isn't it?" she said over her shoulder. She tossed her travel bag on the table.

"You didn't kill us, if that's what you mean," Clarke said. She had actually done pretty well.

Since they figured out how to avoid the monsters for a while, he let her drive around downtown Lawrence so she could get some practice. He was still a little wary of the monsters, so it worked out because they could test the theory about her magic luring them in. None had given chase, giving them space to breathe for once.

He put his travel bag on the suitcase rack, then went over to the bed closest to the front door.

She rolled her eyes at him then took her leftovers bag and put it in the mini-fridge. "Your leftovers are in the fridge," she said, slamming the door shut.

They actually had dinner at a restaurant for once since they didn't have to worry about monsters attacking them in public. He had teased her, mentioning he felt like they were on a date, and she had kicked him under the table. It didn't hurt though, and she had smiled down at her plate. She was doing that more often too. Smiling at him. He felt like things were finally shifting in the right direction. He was still doing his best not to push her, no matter how hard it was—literally.

There had been a whole lot of smiling over dinner. It was nice to relax their guard for once.

"Those are yours," he said, pulling the pillows out from under the comforter so he could bring them to the other bed.

"Yeah, but they always seem to be missing when I wake up," she laughed, grabbing the art brochure she picked up. She came over and flounced down on the bed he was trying to pull the pillows off of.

Deciding one bed was as good as the other, especially since they now knew they were never attacked at night because she didn't do magic while she was sleeping, he stacked the pillows he pulled out back on that bed.

"Gotta do something while waiting for you to wake up," he said, shrugging.

She flipped through the brochure. "The art was okay here," she commented.

While driving, she had noticed the Spencer Art Museum and insisted they go. Figuring they both deserved an afternoon off after weeks of being on the run, he agreed.

"I wish now we'd gone to those underground tunnels in Oklahoma you were talking about," she said, pouting down at the brochure.

"Next time we're there," he promised, walking around to the other bed to grab more pillows. He always made sure he was at least comfortable while sitting up in bed next to her all night.

"R _iiii_ ght," she said, eyeing him under her lashes.

She knew he would never backtrack to a place they'd already gone. If they went there again, it wouldn't be while monsters were chasing them. He smirked at her look.

"And you're sure your father didn't absorb Satan, right?" she asked, changing the subject suddenly.

He laughed out loud at that while he carried the other pillows back over and tossed them next to her.

"I told you; I'm sure."

The rock throwing monsters turned out to be imps. Imps were considered to be the devil's helpers. They were small creatures much like pixies. Also like pixies, they were mischief makers. Throwing rocks, stones, and then boulders increasing in size all at once were their form of attack that morning. She had easily deflected them.

He told her legend said an angel once turned an imp to stone for causing trouble in a newly built cathedral. So, she used her magic, without a spell, and actually managed to turn them to stone.

"Evil bunnies, imps..." she said. "Do you get the feeling like something worse is coming? I mean, they can't all be that easy."

"There's always something worse," he said. "Whatever comes, we'll deal with it."

She tossed the brochure on the night stand.

"I'm taking a shower," she said.

She got up, grabbed her toiletries bag and her pajamas which always consisted of his shirt and her shorts, then headed to the bathroom.

That infernal shirt.

He had really hoped the longer they were on the road, the less it would bother him, but no.

Every single night she wore it, putting it on right after she showered. She always made sure to toss it in the load when she did laundry. Not a damn night went by without him seeing his shirt stretched across her chest.

He stifled his enthusiasm and went back to fixing up the bed.

When she was freshly showered and wearing the _shirt_ , she crawled into bed next to him and looked at his sketchpad.

Seeing the drawing, she asked, "What exactly have you been working on?"

"A history," he said, turning the book to shade something in. "Of me."

"Why do you draw it?" she asked. "Why not write it out?"

"Because a picture is worth a thousand words, in a thousand different languages," he explained.

She nodded.

"If I draw it, anyone in the world can see it and understand," he continued.

"Would you want them to?" she asked.

"If I'm not around anymore, yeah," he said. "Without it, there's nothing to prove that I ever existed. Talk about lonely, I've been on this earth for over eight hundred years and no one even knew."

"I do," she said.

"Yeah," he smirked at her. "You do. But you don't know everything."

"Can I read it when it's done?" she asked.

"Maybe," he teased.

She poked him.

"Maybe I should make one too," she said. "Not a history, but like a book about all of this. Hope and Clarke's Epic Adventures, or something."

He looked up at that, startled. Hadn't she had a dream of a memory of seeing her mother after she died? Something about stories of adventures?

"What?" she asked, seeing his face.

"Nothing," he said, shrugging and going back to the drawing. "You should do it."

"Maybe I will…" she trailed off. "Tomorrow we should get me something to draw in." She yawned and lay down, flouncing her pillow.

"Tomorrow," he agreed.

* * *

After explaining to Mac about Landon as delicately as possible—to which she was extremely skeptical—she agreed to give up some blood so Lizzie could use it to link to Seylah in the pit. She had also agreed to let Lizzie project her into the pit so she could find her sister and ask her to find Malivore's body.

They were going to do it tomorrow.

She also gave some helpful pointers in trying to locate Landon's body. While still skeptical, she went along with everything he said and she told him to look for clusters of monsters instead. If Malivore was focused on taking out his enemies, he must be keeping monsters near him to act as protection.

He had to agree. With all the monsters him and the boys fought, he had never once seen any of them working together.

With the new theory, Alaric studied the locator map, scrutinizing all of the tiny white lights of monsters in Mystic Falls. He had Lizzie make another one using a larger map of the town instead of the entire country. It was easier to see whether the monsters were gathered or not.

"Most of the monsters won't congregate together," he told the guys. "We're looking for any so close to each other they're probably in the same room.

The guys studied the map with him until Rafael pointed. "There."

Alaric squinted and saw three tiny lights dotted together deep in the woods, near the falls. "Looks like we know where we're going."

"Stupid question," MG raised a hand. "But, what are we going to do if we actually _do_ see Landon? I mean, Malivore."

"If its _Landon_ ," Rafael corrected fiercely, "We'll get him and take him home. Put him in one of the cages beneath the school until we can break Malivore's hold on him."

"Man, you need to give that up," Kaleb said. "Malivore isn't controlling him like the monsters in the pit. Malivore is _in_ him. It's not Landon."

"Yeah, _okay_ ," Rafael said flippantly, clearly choosing to ignore his words.

"It wasn't Landon, Raf," MG said, not for the first time. "He just sat there. He didn't say anything, gave no warning. He was waiting patiently before Clarke shot him. He tried to blow her up. He wanted her dead. That _wasn't_ Landon."

"I don't believe any of that either," Rafael denied. "Since when do any of us trust Clarke? You don't know what really happened. You said yourself it was a blur."

MG shook his head, exasperated.

"We're just going to go and see what we can find, okay?" Alaric placated the situation. "If it's Malivore, we'll do what we can. If it gets too heated, we all run. _Got it_?"

All four of them nodded.

"Good," Alaric said. "Let's go."

"Suit up," Jed elbowed Rafael while tying a bandana mask around his mouth and nose.

Rafael shook his head but followed suit. The wolves couldn't turn off their breathing like the vampires, so they needed _something_ to protect them if poisonous fumes happened again. He wasn't sure a folded bandana would really do the trick, but he would just go with it at this point.

Each of them grabbed a weapon from Alaric's private collection too.

Alaric drove them toward the falls, stopping when they were close enough without giving themselves away.

They spread out but kept within hearing distance and descended into the area near the falls. They knew from the map that the place they were looking for was probably behind the falls, in a deep cavern. They had brought along flashlights to help everyone see better.

Alaric went in first. He reared back and swung when he sensed something coming at him in the darkness.

Hearing a shrill cry, he moved to the side, trying to see.

There was some dim illuminating source inside the cavern as well, but the boys coming behind him shown a brighter light on the entire area.

They all stumbled back, taking in the giant creature with multiple heads in front of them. It was sitting in a pool of water that must have formed over time from the caverns and falls.

"What is _that_!?" MG cried out.

"Does it matter?" Rafael asked. "Just kill it." He pounced forward and cut off one of the heads before springing back again.

"Don't!" Alaric called out, but it was too late.

As the head Rafael cut off fell to the ground, the new stubby neck grew back and in its place were _two_ heads where the last had stood.

"When you cut off a head, two more grows in its place!" he told the gang. By his calculations, this was a hydra, and it looked like one of the legends of this thing had gotten the head count correct. Nine. Eleven now, since he and Rafael had both removed a head.

"Then how we supposed to kill this thing?" Kaleb said.

"You could just let it kill you," a voice said.

They all looked to the new source while being wary of the monster.

"Landon," Rafael said with relief.

"That's not Landon," Alaric said firmly.

Rafael didn't care, he tried to pounce around the hydra blocking his way, and very nearly made it to his destination when something else came out and stopped his movement.

This couldn't be a creature. It looked more like a man—a very strong, muscular man who appeared quite intimidating. Rafael tried to get around him, ducking when a fist was thrown at him.

"Rafael, get back!" Alaric said with dawning awe and horror. It wasn't a _man_ , but it _was_ the son of a god.

MG and Kaleb were trying to avoid hydra heads without cutting them off, using the flat of Kaleb's sword and MG's club to knock the heads back, causing pain but not truly damaging the creature.

"If I'm right," Alaric called out. "I think that's Hercules."

Kaleb looked up. "He's making them work together? That's cold, man."

"Got it, just take out the heel then," Jed said before he ran after his alpha, wanting to protect and help him.

"That's Achilles!" Alaric hollered. "Stop! We don't know how strong—"

It was too late, Hercules punched Jed in the face and he went flying.

Alaric couldn't do anything to stop it. If Jed hit the cavern wall he was flying at with _that_ kind of force, it didn't matter how much strength and power the wolf had, it would kill him.

Seeing what happened, MG vamp sped to get between Jed and the wall in time, bracing himself for impact but determined to keep Jed from being smooshed. It worked, kind of. Jed would live to see another day, but MG would probably have lost his own life if not for Hope's blood.

Both of them were knocked out though, leaving the team down two.

Alaric had to do something; he had to take out the source somehow.

Rafael was still trying to get around Hercules, using all of his defensive maneuvers to avoid getting hit. He was desperate to get to Landon.

Kaleb had to cut off another neck when things got too hairy.

Seeing the spray of blood, Alaric walked over and dipped his crossbow in it, coating the arrow as best he could. He couldn't get a clear shot at Hercules with Rafael being there, but he _could_ get a shot at Malivore. He didn't know if hydra blood would kill him permanently or just kill him until the phoenix rose again, but, either way, he had a clear shot at him so he took it.

Hercules stopped fighting with Rafael and stepped in front of the arrow to protect Malivore at the last second.

Rafael, seeing his opponent drop to the ground, looked from the arrow back to Alaric. "You aimed that at Landon! It could've killed him!"

Malivore shrugged and left, walking into a different cavern opening.

"Raf," Alaric said. "It's not him. Come help us with this."

"I need to get Landon!"

Rafael left to go after Malivore and Alaric wanted to follow, but he couldn't.

Kaleb was the only one fighting the hydra at this point and he needed his help. The creature was slithering up out of the pool of water too. If any of those heads reached MG or Jed…

Alaric ran over to Jed, checking his pulse while he took off the bandana. Relieved to feel it, he grabbed MG's club and wrapped the bandana around the top of it.

"Doctor S?" Kaleb cried out. "Little help here!"

Fortunately, Alaric carried a lighter wherever he went. He lit the bandana that hadn't gotten too wet from the falls. "When I say so, cut off a head!"

"But—"

"I'll burn the stump before it grows back," Alaric said. "Hurry before this burns out!"

Meanwhile, Rafael was running after Landon.

"Landon! Landon!" he called, spotting him. "C'mon man, I know it's you. Just come with me. I can help you!"

Malivore stopped and turned back to the boy. He could call out any number of monsters to take care of this wolf, but he was curious.

"I was with you before," he said. "In the woods."

"Yes," Rafael nodded, wondering how he should approach to get the upper hand. If he could just capture Landon somehow, they could bring him back. He had always been stronger than Landon, even before the wolf was triggered. He could do this. He just had to get a hold of him. "We went camping. That was the last thing we did before all of this. You remember. That's good."

"He went out alone, but it was me who came back," Malivore said. "You think I'm still him. It's why you're here. Why you don't attack."

"I don't understand," Rafael shook his head.

"My son has served his purpose," Malivore said. "Landon doesn't live here anymore."

" _No_!" Rafael refused to believe that. "Landon, you're just saying that because it's what _he_ wants you to say, you can't be, he can't be—"

Rafael cut himself off and jumped at Landon, trying to put his arms around him and subdue him.

The wings made of fire swung out, burning his arm, making him cry out and fall back.

"I could kill you," Malivore said, floating in the air now. "But you're not the wolf I want."

As he flew up in the air through a hidden over pass in the caves that took him up and out into the night sky, Rafael could only stare up at him, clutching his arm.

He couldn't deny it anymore.

That wasn't Landon.

His brother was really gone.

* * *

He was lying between her stocking covered legs again.

Her sweater gone, he had just succeeded in unhooking the clasp on her bra.

He made eye contact with her as he reached up her shoulders and slid the straps down, caressing her arms gently before pulling the material off and out of the way.

She moaned when he lowered his head to her breasts once more. He started at the top side of one, running his lips down across her skin, circling around his target but never actually finding it—teasing her, taunting her.

She finally reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, tugging him to where she most needed him at that moment. He gave in easily, his hot mouth making her groan until she arched her hips up suddenly against his.

"Oh my God, Clarke, yes…"

He pulled back and she whimpered at the loss. He gave her a look, letting her know of his displeasure.

With understanding, she reached out with her other hand, grasping his head with both now before pulling him toward her other breast.

"Please, Ryan," she insisted.

Smirking his pleasure now, he gave her what she wanted, paying equal attention to the other.

She moaned, gripping and running her fingers through his tousled short locks as she basked in the pleasure his mouth was giving her.

Her hips began moving gently against his. As the pleasure intensified, she started running her legs restlessly against his, searching for something.

He pulled back and reached down for the zipper on the side of her skirt.

Despite everything, she stayed his hand. He gave her a questioning look, and she shook her head. She wasn't ready for that.

Nodding, he slid back up her body, resting even more perfectly between her thighs. She arched again, moaning his name when she rubbed herself against him, "Ryan…"

He pulled his hips back slightly, then pressed forward, their clothes creating the most incredible friction for her. She cried out in surprise at how good it felt.

"You like that?" he whispered.

Arching her hips was her only answer.

Placing his arms down on either side of her, he began moving with increased fervor against her. He maintained eye contact the entire time.

The restlessness became frantic so she bent her knees and planted her feet on either side of him, making her body arch up against him more forcefully. The position change made him fall down gently on top of her.

He burrowed his face into her neck, his lips finding her skin before he bit down gently and soothed the delicious ache with his tongue.

Their hips moved together, the intensity rising, growing, until it became overwhelming—too overwhelming.

It was too much!

She wasn't ready for any of this.

No matter how amazing it felt, she had to stop.

She had to stop _now_.

She shook her head abruptly, struggling frantically, trying to find the surface.

She finally woke.

She lay as still as possible, trying to control her breathing, praying she hadn't made any noises to give her away like last time.

When the pressure between her legs became too awkward for her, she finally forced herself to get up and go to the bathroom. Her back to him, she didn't have to look in his direction at all.

She could see him on their bed in the mirror as she passed the second empty bed. He was still drawing in his sketchbook, looking at the page and seemingly completely undisturbed by her movements.

Relieved, she had just put her hand on the bathroom door to begin closing it behind her when he spoke, still looking down at his drawing.

"You know," he said. "I could go for a walk if you want to finish off on the bed."

"Shut up, Ryan!" she said, blushing furiously and closing the door quickly.

He grinned, staring at the closed door.

She hadn't slept fitfully since he started staying on the bed with her while she slept. So when she started making restless movements again, he wondered if something had changed.

Hearing soft moans changed his mind quickly. Was she really having another sex dream? Was it about him again? Who else _would_ it be about at this point anyway? Desperately wishing he could be apart of this one too, wishing to know exactly what was going on in that head of hers, he watched her to see what would happen next.

He knew the instant she awoke because she froze on the bed. She was too pent up, too tense, and shifting her legs together under her sheet too much for her dream to have ended the way it should have.

As she finally slid out of the bed and walked cautiously toward the bathroom, he couldn't help himself. He wanted her to know he knew, and maybe if he offered to give up the bed, she might just offer to let him stay and help her instead.

She clearly wasn't ready for that yet, but he didn't mind.

She called him Ryan.

That dream was definitely about him.


	19. You Like Him, Don't You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Hope slept like crap.

After returning from the bathroom, she grabbed her pillow from the other bed and climbed into the empty one. She wouldn't—couldn't—look at him, but she did tell him in a firm voice to stay where he was at. She didn't want him moving next to her like he always did.

She tossed and turned all night, sleeping some, but never for long. She kept dreaming of falling into an endless darkness completely alone. She would awaken slightly, only to fall asleep and do it all over again.

At some point she gave up on sleeping, but she had no clue what time it was. She had been lying there for a while now, eyes closed, sifting through her thoughts about yesterday and the dream last night. And, yes, avoiding him.

It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't called him Ryan. The only time he ever told her to call him that was in her last sex dream—which he knew about because he had _been_ there for that one. She gave it away this time without meaning to.

"You awake?" She felt him push against the side of the bed to get her attention. "I need to shower before check out."

She rolled away from him to bury her face in her pillow and mutter, "Yes."

He wouldn't leave her unattended while she was sleeping, even knowing she wouldn't do magic. He still wanted to take every precaution. She liked that he never faltered on trying to keep her safe.

She could hear him gather his stuff. She waited for the click of the bathroom door closing before opening her eyes. The clock read 10:00 am. They had missed breakfast. Oh well, he would just have to be content with her leftovers until they found a place.

She should get up and change while he was in the shower, but she didn't feel like it. She had too much on her mind. Namely, him.

Ryan Clarke.

She liked him.

There was no use denying it anymore.

She liked him, as in, more than friends. As in, he had finally succeeded in getting her to return his feelings. As in, she was so confused right now she didn't know what to think.

The one time she got to focus on something other than monsters and all she could think about was him.

She didn't know what to do with this new knowledge. Liking him didn't automatically mean she wanted to pursue anything with him. Her fantasies may have conjured one helluva image of the two of them together but that didn't mean she was going to try to make the dream a reality.

 _He_ wouldn't mind going there, she was sure, but she was struggling with everything—especially the sex part.

She knew all about sex, why wouldn't she? Teenagers talked about it all the time. She knew she was the product of her mother having hate sex with her drunken father. She knew her mother had other lovers as well, including Uncle Elijah at some point. Hope wasn't _that_ innocent. Her mother had always answered any questions she had. Mom had been the one to talk about the birds and the bees when she was younger, just as she had talked about a woman's pleasure when Hope was old enough to be curious about that too.

But in a lot of ways she _was_ innocent, especially innocent to doing the act itself. She listened to her mother, but she had always been a bit sheltered and protected because of the way she grew up. After the mistake with Roman, she spent years never getting close to anyone. So, no, she hadn't had sex yet, and she had never been in a rush _to_ do it.

With Landon, she thought that eventually, given time, she would be okay to do it with him. It would happen as a natural progression in their relationship, based on mutual love and trust. Plus, both of them were virgins and neither of them knew what they were doing, not really. She figured they would be able to figure it out together. It would be light and carefree, with laughter and some awkwardness, but mostly it would be safe and comfortable. She thought she would be able to handle that.

With Clarke, everything was so different. He regarded her with this intensity that could light a fire in her if she let it. Their banter could be rough and exhilarating. They could hold their own against each other and regarded each other as equals at this point. She didn't want to consider what it would be like to really be _with_ him because it scared her. She felt like the passion in his interest in her was too intimidating. Sex with Clarke would be nothing like she had envisioned with Landon, as her dream last night could attest. She felt like he was awakening things inside her that were big and scary.

At least he hadn't been inside her mind to see the details of last night's dream. This way she could sit with it, think about him, wonder if being with him was something she was ready to do without the added mortification of him _knowing_ about and expecting…well, _that_.

She knew if she told him she returned his feelings, things would change. _He_ would change. He had been around for about eight hundred years—as he revealed to her last night—his experience alone was intimidating. Would he expect things from her that she wasn't ready for? She knew he would never hurt her, and she wouldn't let him; but, it was still all too overwhelming to think about.

Her feelings were making her question everything, even her feelings for Landon.

Just because she had these feelings for Clarke, that didn't mean her feelings for Landon had just disappeared. She hadn't thought much about him over these past couple of weeks, mostly because whenever she did she would have to wrestle with the idea that she might have to kill him.

Before that though, he _had_ broken up with her. She was free to pursue things with Clarke if she decided to. She wasn't spoken for anymore, not really. The question was... did she still have the same feelings for Landon as she thought she had, or had she been deluding herself in the first place to think that Landon was her one true epic love? If she could have and entertain these thoughts about Clarke, what did that mean when it came to Landon? Had she really been that naive, to once again make a huge mistake in picking someone?

That, perhaps, scared her even _more_ when it came to Clarke. Everything that she knew of him from before screamed that he would be another mistake. But everything that she knew _now_? Well... she didn't know.

Sex aside, everything else about Clarke that she _liked_ had been building up since the Krampus had shown up at school, even before he first showed up in her mind. He was easy for her to talk to. She found herself opening up to him about her past and her family. He wanted to know everything, and she felt no hesitation in telling him. Every story just made them that much closer.

That lopsided smirk of his had gotten to her too.

And then there was the way he insisted on staying with her even though he didn't have to. He had told her once that he was terrified of his father. Yet, he was fighting monsters with her knowing that eventually she was going to have to face Malivore. He was actually going to face something that terrified him _for_ her. Hell, he already _had_ when he came to rescue her from the picnic.

He told her he would never leave her alone. He knew how much the loneliness got to her, especially since he could relate.

Yet, with her feelings for Landon, how could she in good conscious do that to Clarke? To let him know she returned his feelings when she was still in love with someone else? And what if she _did_ figure out a way to get Malivore out of Landon? What would happen then? Would she have to choose between them? None of that would be fair to Clarke…

She had another big decision to make, and she honestly didn't know what to do.

"Still?" Clarke said, leaving the bathroom freshly showered and dressed for another day on the road. "Get up, Hope. I'm starving."

There wasn't any way to avoid it, she had to get up. So she did. She stumbled to her travel bag to pick out an outfit for the day, her other products still by the sink in the bathroom.

She entered the room and took a breath. It smelled like him. Whether it was his shower gel or aftershave, she could smell it. Everything shifted _down_. Closing the door, she sank back against it and decided if acknowledging her feelings for him was going to cause this kind of reaction just by _smelling_ him, she was in real trouble. _Damn werewolf genes._

She hurried to get ready, anxious to get on the road and return to fighting monsters.

Life was so much simpler when that was all she had to focus on.

* * *

Alaric stood with Mac, watching Lizzie and MG set up for the spell.

He was anxious to get back to Jed. Half of the wolf's face had been broken last night with that punch. He was lucky to be alive. If not for his rapid healing capabilities, he wouldn't be.

The team may be made up of werewolves and vampires, but they were still just kids on an ill-conceived mission to save the world. Alaric knew he was taking them into unknown territory, but they had been fighting monsters for the past couple of years. They were experienced. But even the most experienced person screwed up. Take Alaric, for example, who was currently beating himself up for taking kids out and nearly getting them killed. He was supposed to protect these kids, yet Jed was upstairs icing his face and hoping everything healed in the same shape.

MG had nearly lost his head in the collision with Jed and the cavern wall. Hope's blood sustaining a vampire like that, it was definitely something Alaric had never seen before. He knew the blood's effect would have to run off eventually. At least it hadn't happened last night. He needed to keep an eye on MG. The vampire couldn't start thinking he was completely invincible. He wasn't an original vampire just because he had nearly drained the blood of a daughter of one.

The wolves were hot headed too, and that made for another problem. Both Jed _and_ Rafael had run into the thick of things without waiting for instruction from him. He couldn't keep taking them out if they wouldn't listen to him. He didn't even _want_ to take them out anymore. At least he was pretty sure they both had learned their lesson. Jed's face would heal. As for Rafael, once he finally accepted the truth about Landon being gone, he had crumbled.

The boy arrived back in the main cavern just as Alaric used the fire from the club to burn out the last stump on the hydra. Rafael was a mess. He was no longer angry that Alaric had tried to shoot his crossbow at Landon. He just waited until Alaric motioned for him and then he hugged him, burrowing his face into his shoulder. Rafael was like that, always open about his feelings around Alaric. He had latched onto Alaric since he first arrived at the Salvatore School, seeking guidance from him and help whenever he was at a loss. Rafael had always been grateful to him for finding him and bringing him and Landon home. The kid was destroyed now. Landon was Rafael's family and losing him was the biggest loss of all.

He wouldn't allow Rafael to be around for this spell. In fact, he hadn't even told Rafael of their plans. He didn't want to get the kid's hopes up. If Rafael knew they might be able to retrieve Malivore's body, then he would know they thought there was a chance Landon was still in his own body somewhere. He would push even more to do whatever needed to be done, no matter who got hurt in the process.

If any of this actually worked out, it would be _Alaric's_ choice to proceed if they determined it would do anything to Clarke too. He wouldn't let Hope hold Rafael responsible if something happened to him. He also knew better than to put the choice in Hope's hands. If Lizzie had been hesitant about the possibility, that spoke volumes of Hope's feelings toward the mud man. That didn't mean Alaric wouldn't try to find another way. He may not like the guy, but the former agent _was_ there for Hope when no one else could be.

"So," Mac said. "I'm going to tell her to find a…golem body? How will she know what that looks like? _I_ don't even know what that looks like."

"She'll know," Alaric said.

"And why am I doing this and not you?" Mac asked. "I mean, you do know what she looks like, right?"

"Because she'll trust you," Alaric said. "She barely knew me."

"It's hard to believe she worked as some sort of international assassin," Mac said, shaking her head.

"Didn't your husband die under suspicious circumstances?" Alaric brought up.

"My second husband, yes," Mac raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"He went fishing after he was served with divorce papers and a restraining order, and he died," he said. "A boating accident."

"He was never very good at angling," she excused.

"Makes me wonder how much Seylah had to do with it," he said.

Mac drew herself up, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked back toward Lizzie. "I'm sure nothing can be proven."

"Huh," Alaric mused. "Unwilling to look the other way when I ask, but you will for your sister." And here he thought she was infallible.

" _Now_ what are you talking about?"

"Never mind," he shook his head. Of course she would protect her sister at all costs. He would do the same thing. He just wished she had been more open when _he_ asked, to make things easier. Case in point, the Brenner situation.

"So I guess your reasons for looking into Kennedy Brenner's report were personal, huh?"

"She forgot her sister, Ric," she said. "Just like me. We both lost a sister and the Mayor told me to ask _you_ about it. Gotta admit, that got me curious."

"The Mayor, he knows I'm the resident authority on weird," Alaric said.

"Nice of him to clue me in," she said flippantly. "Is there anything else besides memory wiping hell dimensions, phoenixes, and witches I need to know about? Christ, I feel like I've stepped into an episode of Stranger Things."

Alaric glanced at MG, who would be Lizzie's anchor for the spell. He hadn't told Mac about the existence of vampires and werewolves yet. It would've been too much too soon. Mac seemed like the type who needed to be eased into all of this. "That's a good show."

"Wanna know what else is a good show?" Lizzie interrupted. "The one I'm about to put on. Are we ready? Or are we gonna arrest more innocent people and drag them in kicking and screaming?"

"A bit overdramatic, is she?" Mac asked Alaric in an aside.

Alaric smiled a long suffering but loving smile. "Lizzie, sweetheart, you weren't arrested; you were just brought in for questioning. Your record remains unblemished, I promise."

"It better be," Lizzie cast a glare at the sheriff.

Mac dropped her arms and walked toward the teen. "Where do you want me?"

"If you only knew," Lizzie muttered to herself.

"Elizabeth," Alaric warned. "Behave."

"Yes, Daddy," Lizzie said as sweetly as possible while clenching her teeth.

"Just step into the circle," Lizzie pointed to the spot on the floor. "We get to hold hands. MG will hold onto me and be the anchor so I don't lose my way or run out of my mojo."

"And you'll be with me?" Mac asked, hesitant to raise her hands.

"Yep," Lizzie said derisively. "The whole time."

"Any other things I need to know?" the sheriff asked.

"It'll be dark?" Lizzie said, thinking about it.

"How am I supposed to see her then?"

"I think they'll be enough light to see something?" Lizzie said. "I can try to conjure a magical ball to light the way once we're in? But trying to connect to another dimension to begin with is asking a lot. I'm using the spell my sister used to project me into a prison world, so hopefully the premise is the same."

"Prison world?" Mac asked, strangely fascinated.

"Yada, yada, yada," Lizzie said, not bothering to give more information. "Are we doing this or not?"

"Okay," Mac said, raising her hands and feeling a little nervous. "Let's do this."

* * *

"Lah, lah, lah, lah, oooh, Seylah!"

Seylah glanced heavenward and once again wondered why she kept this kid around.

Chad had proven to be more of a hindrance than a help. He was mostly good at jumping out of the way _after_ he drew the attention of some monster and letting Seylah deal with fighting it off so they could run from the creature and hide. Seylah really wished she could find some weapons, but, alas, the only thing to be found in this place were creatures and more creatures.

Most of which probably enjoyed Chad's off-key singing as much as she did.

Hearing a loud growl close by, she readied herself. "Shhh," she warned the boy who was taking a breath before he launched into his second verse.

Chad shut up and backed away, looking around just as Seylah did.

Seylah felt like she was being watched. She hated that she didn't have more light in this place, she had to be quiet and try to sense the creature before it attacked since she usually didn't see them until they were practically next to her.

This creature must be a fast one, because something hit her hard in the darkness and she fell out of the way, not seeing it at all—only feeling fur.

"Watch out!" she tried to warn Chad, but the creature was too fast.

Chad let out a rather high pitched scream as he was knocked off his feet. Feeling hot breath in his face, and seeing big giant teeth, he threw his arms up to cover his face. The creature missed his face but bit into his arm.

"Seylah!" he screamed as the pain tore through him.

Something landed on the creature and suddenly it wasn't on top of him anymore.

He scrambled to his feet, clutching at his arm, whimpering at the pain. He wanted to cry and scream even more because it hurt so much, but he needed to be quiet or he would attract more creatures—wasn't that what Seylah was always saying?

Seylah jumped onto the large animal, wrapping herself around it, gripping tightly, and tried to strangle it. When the creature let go of Chad, she propelled herself to the side, rolling with it off of Chad. She lay on her back, the creature lying backwards on top of her, and she struggled for all she was worth. Keeping her legs wrapped around it, she maneuvered her arms to get a firm grasp around its neck, then jerked _hard_.

The creature went limp.

Breathing hard, she pushed it aside and got up to go to Chad.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked.

"My arm! It bit me! I don't think there's any arm left!" Chad whispered, still crying at the pain.

Amused, she took the arm in her hand and wiped at the wound with her shirt, applying some pressure. "The arm is still there. It will heal."

"How do you know?" he asked, hissing in pain when she pressed on the wound.

"When I jumped into the pit, I had sustained a gunshot wound. It has long since healed," she explained. She reached for the bottom of _his_ shirt and said, "Hold tight." She tore off a strip.

"Hey!" he exclaimed in a whisper.

"Your wound, your shirt," she said. "Need something to stop the bleeding." She used the strip from his shirt to wrap it tightly around his forearm above the wound.

"Why did it go after me?" he asked.

"Possibly had to do with your singing," she said.

"Everybody's a critic," he said.

"Keep your voice _down_ , Chad," Seylah admonished, not for the first time. "They won't find us if they can't hear us or see us."

"Right," Chad nodded. "From now on, stealth is my middle name."

Seylah smirked, she wanted to laugh.

"They're not being stealthy," he said, nodding at a point in the distance. "Someone should really tell them."

Seeing a small light, mixed with some mutterings that were growing louder, Seylah shook her head. Someone else was causing trouble for themselves. She really should leave them to their own devices, but on the off chance these new people could provide some skill so she didn't need to worry over Chad so much, she would go and enlighten them on their mistake.

The closer they got to the new pair, the more Seylah thought she recognized the form of one of the women. _It can't be…_

"Lizzie!" Chad squealed. His voice had started out almost too high but he lowered it immediately. "I knew you'd come back for me!"

"Cyn?" Seylah asked. "Is that really you?"

Chad ran forward and tried to hug the blonde who was batting her arms at him while holding a magical glow ball in her hand. "Who are you…stop trying to touch me!" Lizzie exclaimed, while Chad's arms went straight through her.

Chad stepped back, mouth dropping open. "You're a _ghost_?!"

Mac immediately went to Seylah, smiling broadly at her sister. "I found you, hot damn, they actually did it."

Seylah saw Chad's arms go through the other girl and realized, "I can't touch you, can I?"

Mac shook her head. "We're…astral projecting?"

"Ohhh," Chad said, realizing. "I did that once before. It's really cool."

"Wouldn't have been my word," Mac said.

"Why are you here?" Seylah asked.

"We need your help, Landon's mom," Lizzie said.

"What kind of help?" Seylah asked. "And how is Landon?"

"He's, uh—" Lizzie tried to start, but Mac interrupted.

"We need you to find something called a 'golem body'?" Mac said. "They want to try to get the body _and_ you, out."

"And me!" Chad said quickly.

"Who are you again?" Lizzie asked.

Chad sputtered.

"He's Chad," Seylah said. "He'll be coming out with me." She said, looking back at her sister for confirmation.

Mac nodded. She would make sure it got done.

"This body, it's important?" Seylah asked.

"It belongs to Malivore," Lizzie said. "We need it so we can put him into it and destroy him once and for all."

"I'm okay with that," Seylah said. "But why now? What's changed?"

"From what I understand," Mac said, "He's taken over his son…Landon."

Seylah looked down and swallowed. She nodded. "I will retrieve this body. How do I let you know what I've found?"

"You can't," Lizzie said. "We'll check in every day until you do."

"How will you get us all," she motioned to include Chad too, "out?"

"Still working on it, but we've got a few theories," Lizzie said. "Don't worry, Dad'll figure it out."

"Your Dad is?" Seylah asked.

"Alaric Saltzman," she replied.

"The headmaster at Hope and Landon's school," Seylah said.

Lizzie nodded.

Just then, a giant blue vortex began forming high in the air.

Seylah stepped back and grabbed hold of Chad's good arm.

"What's that?" Mac asked.

The wind started whipping up and tugging at Seylah.

"It's him," Seylah said. "Its how I came back to earth last time."

"I don't get it," Mac said, looking back and forth between the vortex and Seylah, who was now being tugged feet first up toward the vortex. The only thing keeping her from being sucked in was her hold on Chad.

"Can he hear us?" Seylah yelled. "Does he know?"

"I don't know!" Lizzie said. "How would he know?"

"This place _is_ him!" Seylah cried out.

Chad tried to help hold onto her, but it was nearly impossible with the pain in his other arm.

"It's too strong!" Seylah said, knowing she would be sucked in any minute now. "Chad, you have to be _quiet_. When needed, _run_."

"You can't leave me!" Chad said desperately, suddenly very scared.

She tried to tighten her grip, but it wasn't working. She wasn't strong enough to withstand the cyclone tearing her from him.

"Do as I said. We'll find a way to get you out," she promised right before her hands slipped from his and she was pulled into the vortex.

"Stop!" Chad cried out. "Don't go!"

The vortex closed and Seylah was gone.

"Now what?" Lizzie said, groaning.

"Chad, is it?" Mac asked, still reeling from all that she had experienced in the past ten minutes. "Think you can take up the task?"

"Find a golem body?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes with his good arm. "What's that?"

"It's um…" Lizzie looked at Mac who looked back at her, both bewildered. Lizzie thought fast. "Think…mud?" _Clarke's a mud man, right? And his father is Malivore, so…_ "Lots and lots of mud…in the shape of a humanoid like thing, maybe?"

Mac raised an eyebrow and Lizzie shrugged. That's the best she could do.

"Ready to go?" Lizzie asked Mac.

"Wait, Lizzie," Chad reached out to her. "I know I told you and Hope I could do this, but I can't. There're scary monsters and with Seylah I was okay, but I can't do this alone. Please don't leave me."

"I'm sorry," Lizzie said. She knew who he was once she knew his name. He was the one who agreed to jump into Malivore to help take out The Necromancer. He had helped save Josie and Rafael too. She owed him, but she didn't know how to help him. "I'll be back though, okay? Just look for the body."

"Lizzie, please!" he tried again, knowing it wouldn't help. She couldn't stay, and even if she did, she couldn't help him fight anything in her projection form.

Ignoring his pleas since there was nothing else she could do, she ended the projection spell and came back to her body.

"Well?" Alaric asked, seeing the two of them blink and become aware again.

"It didn't go quite as planned," Lizzie said, grimacing. "But…"

"Seylah's back," Mac said with realization. "She's back…somewhere."

"Back?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah, he must've known what we were doing so he up-chucked her," Lizzie said.

"So we can't get the body," he said, sighing and deflating.

"Never fear!" Lizzie said. "I've got my best man on the case."

"Really?" Alaric asked.

"Nah, not really, we're screwed."

* * *

On the way to the car to drop off their bags, Hope hadn't said a word to him. He had told her they were dropping off the bags so they could go into the city for breakfast—or early lunch since she had taken so long to awaken. She nodded, the only thing to indicate that she heard him, but that was it.

She was ignoring him again, and Clarke wasn't amused.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or rather, in the wrong bed," he said as he walked by her side. She kept trying to walk faster than him but since his legs were longer, her efforts were getting her nowhere.

"Change the subject, Clarke," she warned, finally speaking.

 _So we're back to that,_ he thought. To be honest, he knew her calling him Ryan wouldn't last, but he was still slightly disappointed.

"Why are you mad at _me_?" he asked. "It's your mind. I have no control over it."

"I'm not mad at you," she said quickly.

"Could've fooled me," he said.

"I'm…" she searched for a better word but gave up and went with the first to come to mind, "embarrassed, okay?"

"You don't have to be," he reached out and stopped her. "I certainly don't mind."

She stared up at him, meeting his eyes for the first time all morning. He felt like electricity crackled between them.

"I've got a lot on my mind, okay?" she said, breaking eye contact. "Can we keep going?"

 _A lot on her mind_ , he thought. The last time she was like this, she had been trying to make a decision…about him. Had he been right? Was she finally starting to realize she had feelings for him?

She resumed walking and he followed along saying, "Sure, and maybe one day you'll tell me about that dream."

Her steps faltered, but he kept on going right past her. "After breakfast we'll get that sketchbook you wanted."

Glancing back, he was in time to see a small smile flash across her face at that. He had to smile himself as he faced forward again, slowing down for her to catch up.

He was on her mind. He couldn't ask for more than that.

"Hey, isn't that…" she slowed to a stop again, looking at a corner shop across the street. "I think that's where Seylah's coffee shop used to be."

"Guess it's not serving coffee anymore," he said. The store had been turned into a comic book shop. He shrugged. "That'll work," he pointed at a restaurant across the street—Hawaiian Bros.

The hostess sat them, and Hope immediately excused herself to go to the restroom. She had rushed to get ready that morning, trying to get out of the bathroom as quickly as possible, but she forgot to actually _use_ the bathroom when she was in there.

She was feeling a little better than she had since last night. She still had a decision to make, but at least she didn't feel like she had to avoid him until she decided.

Washing and drying her hands, she left and returned to the table, pausing for a moment on the way when she saw their waitress had arrived and was talking to Clarke—and taking entirely too long for a drink order.

She kept going and slipped into her seat, giving Clarke a questioning look.

"It's so nice of you to take your little sister out for lunch," the waitress said, glancing in Hope's direction before focusing her complete attention on Clarke again.

Hope frowned and opened her mouth to correct her but was cut off by Clarke agreeing.

"Gotta get some quality family time in while I'm in town," he said, smirking for Hope's benefit.

"I'll have a water, bottled," Hope told the waitress, tight lipped.

"Me too," Clarke said, eyes dancing in amusement at Hope's annoyance.

"Be right back," the waitress said before leaving.

"What was that about?" she asked.

He shrugged. "She assumed, and I figured it's a good enough cover story, so why not?"

"Why was she even talking to you? She just had to get the drink orders."

He shrugged again. "Being friendly?"

"Right," she looked away. That waitress wasn't being friendly because it was her job. She was flirting with Clarke.

"But it does remind me," he leaned forward. "Yesterday, you mentioned a brother? Since when do you have one?"

"Oh, Marcel," she said. "My father raised him. It's easier to just call him that. He's also kind of my uncle now too? He married my Aunt Bex." She paused, thinking about it.

"Huh." Her family was clearly more complex than he realized.

"He's a vampire…an upgraded original?" she scrunched her nose in concentration. His story was…complicated. "Long story short, his bite _is_ worse than his bark."

"Here you go," the waitress came back.

She plopped a water bottle down in front of Hope, then made a show of _handing_ the bottle to Clarke, trying to catch his eye while making sure her hand touched his while handing off the bottle. Clarke wasn't paying her any attention, just took the bottle from her, but Hope saw the entire thing and it made her grip her _own_ bottle a little too tightly, morphing the plastic slightly before she stopped when she heard the slight noise from the bottle.

"Ready to order?"

Hope quickly ordered the pacific island salad, while Clarke had to drag out his ordering. Of course he ordered a large plate, but he couldn't decide which kind of chicken. The waitress helped, "The Molokai chicken is really good if you like it hot."

"I do," he said, handing the menu back to her with a quick smile.

Gripping the edge of the table now, Hope was _not_ happy. Why did he have to let the woman think she was his _sister_? She could've put a stop to this nonsense immediately if he had claimed it was a lunch date. But no, he had to let her assume something that would make it seem strange if Hope reacted like a jealous shrew.

Yes, she was jealous. Yes, she knew it was ridiculous. No, she couldn't make it stop.

She caught a glimpse of the waitress still observing Clarke from afar while putting in their orders. How fast could the orders be made so they could get out of here? She really wanted to find a monster to kill right now.

"Maybe we should get the orders to go?" she suggested.

Clarke looked perplexed. "In a hurry to kill more things? They'll still be there when we're done."

Hope sat and waited, trying to behave when their orders came out and the waitress made a show of setting everything down perfectly for Clarke. She wouldn't be surprised if she opened up a napkin and tucked it into the top of his shirt like a giant bib _just_ to have an excuse to touch him again. Sister or not, Hope wouldn't keep from speaking up about _that_.

The waitress _finally_ left and Clarke dug in. Hope tried to eat, but after a few bites, she realized she couldn't taste anything because she was too annoyed, so she put her fork down and focused on drinking her water instead.

"Need anything else?" The waitress came by a little later to check on them as any good server would do, except she didn't look in Hope's direction at all. The question was clearly for Clarke only.

Clarke shook his head.

"If you need anything, just let me know what you desire," she said with a wink and walked away.

He just shoved another spoonful into his mouth, but Hope was _done_.

She was tired, she was cranky, she was afraid she was falling for the wrong guy, and now she was jealous. She couldn't watch this anymore.

She put down her water bottle. "I'm done. I'll meet you at the car."

"What?" Clarke looked up, confused.

"Don't worry, _brother_ , I won't do anything to attract the wrong kind of attention," she said with a glower.

She left him stuttering to figure out what went wrong.

"Hope, wait!" he said, dropping his spoon and trying to slide out of the booth to go after her.

The waitress came back by right then, blocking his exit. "We could meet up later while you're still in town? What's your number?"

Clarke shook his head, "Not interested." He was standing now, trying to get around her while fumbling for his wallet. He pulled out enough to cover the bill and a tip and pushed it at her.

"You've got to pay at the counter," she said, looking displeased and not taking it from him. She was making him follow the rules now that he wasn't giving out his number.

Grumbling because he didn't want to draw any kind of unwanted attention, he went to pay at the front, impatient as he had to wait for two other people in front of him.

Why would Hope leave him like that? They hadn't been apart since their shopping trip. With the way she had reacted that day, he didn't think she would _ever_ let him out of her sight in public again.

_What gives?_

* * *

"So how do we find her?" Mac asked. "She could be anywhere, right?"

"She's in Mystic Falls," Alaric said. "That's where he is, so he'd open a portal here."

"I could send her a fire message?" Lizzie suggested. "Tell her to come to the school?"

Alaric nodded. "Do it."

Mac envisioned a giant fire sending out smoke signals, but Lizzie dispelled that notion by grabbing a piece of paper, scribbling a message, and turning it into a ball of fire in her palm before it disappeared.

"Now, we wait," Lizzie said, smirking. 

She was feeling quite accomplished. She had done more magic in the past few days than she usually did. It felt good to know she could accomplish more difficult spells, like projecting someone into a completely different dimension. How cool was that? Pretty soon she would be as kick ass as Hope! Well, maybe not, but still, she could hold her own.

There was a sound at the door, it opened and Seylah walked inside carrying the message in her left hand.

"That was fast," Lizzie observed, frowning.

"Seylah!" Mac said, running to her sister.

Seylah reached out with her right hand and grabbed her around the neck, gripping hard.

Alaric ran and grabbed Seylah from behind, yanking her away, while MG went to the sheriff.

Seylah threw her head back, slamming it into Alaric's face, loosening his grip enough to break free.

Lizzie shot out a binding spell at Seylah, intending for it to wrap around her and keep her from moving, but the spell deflected and flew back at the witch. Lizzie found herself constrained, floating upside down, and completely immobile.

Seylah turned and punched Alaric, then went running for Mac again. MG raced forward and wrapped his arms around her, using enough strength to subdue a human without crushing her.

"Why is she attacking, Ric?" Mac cried out, while Alaric stumbled to his feet, holding his jaw.

"He shouldn't be able to control her," Alaric said, remembering Hope's information. "Malivore can't control humans, which means something else is…"

He ran to the map, aware that Seylah was struggling against MG. He looked at the locater map of Mystic Falls and saw that he was right. "There's a monster here. It must be invisible. MG! Listen, try to find it."

MG gripped Seylah tightly and tried to hear, but he was suddenly being crushed himself.

Gasping, he pulled away from Seylah so he didn't accidentally crush her as he was being crushed in an embrace that kept getting tighter and tighter. "Doctor Saltzman, something's holding me but there's nothing here!"

Seylah went running for Mac again, who ran around the desk. She didn't want to hurt her sister. Alaric grabbed his sword and decided he would try to injure Seylah, he wouldn't kill her. He ran at her but she got around him and grabbed a fighting stick from the wall. Turning, she started attacking him, the wood smacking against the sword.

He fought her while trying to think. A monster was controlling Seylah somehow… It made Lizzie's spell boomerang back to her, like it was mimicking her. Just like MG had been subduing Seylah and was now being subdued himself. But Seylah wasn't trying to do any of this to them, she was being forced to do it… like the monster was making _her_ mimic _him_. _That's it_. The monster could mimic others, and could make others mimic it.

How was he going to kill an invisible monster without killing Seylah? Obviously the monster could only control one person at once or it would've already made Alaric turn on the sheriff along _with_ Seylah. That meant even if he _could_ subdue Seylah, he could be the next one to attack Mac.

Fighting became even more aggressive, and Alaric struggled. He realized Seylah was struggling too, if her face was any indication. She was straining. While her body was doing exactly what the mimic demon wanted her to, it wasn't controlling her facial features. She looked haunted that she might be the one to kill her sister.

If she could control her face and eyes then… He saw her eyes flicker to the right again and again while they were fighting. To the right. He maneuvered the fight to get close to his desk and grabbed a tranquilizer gun. He shot a bunch of shots up and down in the direction her eyes were indicating.

He must've been successful because the darts stuck into something before that _something_ fell over and the darts were now aimed at the ground, stuck in the air. Lizzie and MG were released from their prisons, and so was Seylah.

Seylah came forward, grabbed the sword from Alaric, went to where the prone monster must be and started jabbing the sword down into it, over and over again. Grunting with each downward movement, she made sure it would never come back to harm them again.

"How'd you know where it was?" Alaric asked, wondering.

"I could feel its movement while it controlled mine," Seylah said, breathing hard and tossing the sword to the side.

"Seylah?" Mac asked, coming toward her.

"Cyn," Seylah said, smiling and going to her sister.

They hugged, and Alaric could only smile that at least one happy ending could be had here. He even thought he saw Lizzie turn to wipe a tear away.

If only the rest of their journey would be just as happy.

* * *

Hope knew she was being ridiculous. She knew she was giving herself away too. He would catch up to her and he would figure it out, he always did. She knew she didn't even have anything to be jealous about. He hadn't once returned that woman's attention. But he hadn't shut her down completely either. She shook her head at herself. He probably didn't even realize he was being flirted with. He definitely hadn't acted like it.

Was this reaction the answer she was looking for? She didn't want it to be though. Jealousy wasn't an answer. It just made it even clearer that she had feelings for him, which she already knew. She just didn't know what to do. Of all the reasons holding her back, she knew the biggest one was the fear. And she hated being afraid.

She glanced around. She had forgotten they had walked to the restaurant from the hotel parking garage, so she cut through an alley to get to the next block over.

Stopping in the middle, she decided she _wanted_ to fight a monster. She was frustrated and wanted to pummel the heck out of some creature. 

She used her magic to kick a can and waited.

Nothing happened, and she grew even more frustrated. Maybe the monsters just needed time to find her since she hadn't been on their radar for a while.

She was being ridiculous again. Sighing, she resumed her walk but stopped suddenly and sniffed the air.

_Was something burning?_

She froze.

Her stomach dropped and her heart hurt.

Her dream.

_No._

She turned and ran up the alley, back toward the restaurant. _Please, no, please,_ she begged whoever might listen the entire way.

She saw it unfolding in the distance. It was the woman, the waitress, and she had a gun trained on Clarke. He tried reaching for his, but she already had hers. He wasn't fast enough.

Hope threw out a large wave of magical energy at the woman, screaming with the effort. The magic hit the woman and she fell, but Clarke had already been shot. It was too late.

"No, no, no," she muttered, running to him. "You're okay. You're immortal. Why would you come back any different than you were, right? You're okay. _Wake up_!"

She grabbed at him, looking at the wound in his chest. Maybe she needed to get the bullet out? She pulled him toward her to look at his back. Exit wound. The bullet went straight through.

"How long did it take before for you to come back? I should've asked. Just wake up, wake up, _wake up_! You can't do this! You promised, Ryan! Wake up!"

Why wasn't he waking up? She knew he had been out for a while when his neck had been broken before, but he spent a lot of time eavesdropping on her. Who knows how long he laid there aware before he got up.

"You said you weren't going to leave me alone," she said. "Don't you dare leave me alone!" She was just going to wait. She would wait, and he would wake up.

Looking around, she realized she had used magic. Not once, but twice. Monsters were probably already on the way. Not only that…but that woman had shot him. Monsters didn't use guns. This was a Triad agent. Had she called them when he showed up at the restaurant? Were more on the way? Was that why she had been flirting with him? Was she trying to piss off Hope deliberately? Or was she just trying to get him to meet up with her later so she could lead him into a trap?

Either way, it didn't matter now. Monsters and Triad were coming, and he wouldn't wake up!

She put her head in her hands, struggling inside, trying to be patient. She couldn't lose him. Not him too. Why? Why did the universe keep doing this to her? What did it want from her?

She had been fighting them back but now the tears were welling up, starting to choke her.

_Just breathe, Hope. Breathe. Calm down._

_He's going to wake up. He's going to wake up. He's going to wake up._

"I told you I didn't want to find out this way."

Relief hit like a tidal wave. She jerked her head up and heard him grunt while moving to a sitting position. She grabbed his arm and pulled, helping him.

"We gotta go," she said, her voice raspy from the tears. She cleared her throat. "I did magic."

"And Triad's probably on its way too," he summarized, seeing the woman on the ground with the gun. "I screwed up."

He stood with her helping him although he didn't need it. He was fine now. He walked over to the woman, searching for ID. He pulled out the necklace that was hidden beneath her shirt with the Triad logo on it, just for confirmation that she really did work for his former employers.

"Seylah's memories were returned right along with mine, so why _wouldn't_ they stake out her old café in case she showed up again like before. They'd want to get their hands on her as much as they'd want to get to me." He felt for a pulse and didn't find one.

"She's dead," he told Hope.

Hope didn't know what to say. She hadn't thought when she released her magic. She just struck out with as much as she could.

"They'll be on us even harder now," he said, standing up. "We need to get out of Lawrence."

He pulled out his own gun, which he had finally put a silencer on at her request thankfully. He shot the woman in the chest twice.

"Don't need them looking too closely at cause of death," he said. He didn't want them to know Hope killed her with magic. As far as he knew, they didn't know anything about her even if they knew he was traveling with her. He would prefer to keep it that way.

"I didn't mean to…" she said, looking down at the woman.

"No big deal," he said. "You were trying to protect me."

It _was_ a big deal…or rather it _should_ be a big deal… except it wasn't.

She had been spending all this time feeling more and more like a monster. If she didn't care that she took a human life, did that mean she had already become the monster she was scared of becoming?

"Let's go," he walked over and grabbed her hand to tug her along. He didn't need her going into shock on top of everything else.

She gripped his hand tightly and followed, sprinting to keep up.

All things considered, she was just glad he was alive.

* * *

"Ouch, man," Ethan said. "What happened to your face?!"

Jed knew it still looked bad, but he felt like he healed enough he could go to the bonfire on the outskirts of town with the girls and not be a walking bruise. Plus, staying in his bed back at the dorm with Doctor Saltzman checking on him every ten minutes was getting old. Fortunately, since all the bones had healed even though the bruises weren't gone, his headmaster had given him permission to go out. He figured it would be dark enough out that when the bruises were gone in a day or two, no one would be the wiser.

"I got punched by Hercules," Jed answered truthfully knowing no one would ever believe that.

"Someone did that to you," Ethan said frowning, ignoring his ridiculous excuse. "Who? Was it Dennis? He's always messing with the new kids."

"No, no one here," Jed said. "It's fine. It doesn't even hurt," he lied.

"He's alright, E," Jade said. "Don't worry."

Maya grabbed Jade's hand. "Let's check out the keg."

The two took off together, leaving Josie to stare after them in frustration.

Ethan wouldn't let it go though. "Was it someone at your old school? We should go find them."

"Chill, bro," Jed said, noting that Ethan was getting a little heated about it. "I'm good. I'm gonna hit up the keg too." He followed the girls, leaving Ethan to talk with Josie. That would probably be good for Ethan considering he wanted to get to know her—and it would take his attention away from Jed's face.

Josie found herself sitting alone with Ethan and she felt super awkward about it. Her plan to cure his arm hadn't worked, so she still felt guilty every time she saw his cast. To make matters worse, Ethan actually _liked_ her. He had been making a point to talk to her more lately. She refused to flirt back, hoping he would get the hint, but he didn't.

Ethan opened his mouth to speak and Josie scrambled to her feet. "I'm going to, you know, um, _keg_!" She left before he could say anything else to her, leaving him with his mouth open.

Breathing a sigh of relief that she had successfully gotten away, she headed over and grabbed a red cup.

Relationship drama aside, she was actually enjoying living as a human. She went to school, made friends with people who hadn't known her since she was six, and got to experience _normal_ human things—like a bonfire kegger. She knew her dad had to know what was going on, yet he allowed her to go anyway. He probably figured they would sneak out anyway. She had a curfew, and she was supposed to call if she needed anything.

She knew he and Lizzie had been spending a lot of time together working on figuring out how to destroy Malivore and get him out of Landon. She was happy for her twin. Josie had worried that it would be too much for Lizzie, being away from her so much, but Lizzie was doing just as well as Josie.

After Josie finally got a turn at the keg, she stood to the side, sipping and glancing around on the lookout. She didn't want Ethan to come and join her again.

"Hey you, you're new right?"

Josie looked heavenward. "Yes, Dennis, as I've reminded you three times now."

The footballer had already had one too many and was trying to stand up straight while staring at her. "You're so pretty. You know, my truck is over there. You should see my backseat."

"Oh my God," Josie said. "Would you go away?"

"Hi, Dennis," Jade said, making her way over with Maya following close behind. The vampire had clearly heard their exchange, as her face showed her anger mixed with concern for Josie. "We were just looking for Josie. Why don't you go over there, hang with the guys, and let us girls go do, you know, girlie things?"

"I like girlie things," Dennis said, stepping close to Jade now and leering at her.

Josie could see the look on Jade's face and got worried. "Jade, it's cool. Maya, why don't you take Jade to get another drink and I'll just go find Ethan."

Maya looked at the half full cup in Jade's hand, raising an eyebrow. "She doesn't need another drink."

"No," Jed said, coming up behind Jade quickly. "But I do. Go with me, Jade." He put his hands on her shoulders and led her away before she could do something Doctor Saltzman wouldn't approve of.

Josie breathed a sigh of relief. Jade probably wouldn't have lost her cool, but Jed was there to make sure she didn't. Maya followed them, and so Josie was alone once again—with Dennis.

"So, what do you say?" Dennis leaned in close to her.

Wincing at the smell of his breath, she waved a hand in front of her face and stepped back. "I don't think so."

He reached out to grab her arm. She started speaking a spell but realized belatedly that wouldn't work anymore. _Rats_.

"You heard her," Ethan said, walking in between them and staring angrily at Dennis. "Back off."

"I can take care of myself, Ethan," Josie said. She didn't appreciate the whole male testosterone thing from either of them.

"Yeah," Dennis said, glowering at him. " _Ethan_."

Ethan ignored Josie and glared at Dennis, daring him to start something with him.

"Heard your arm might be in need of re-breaking," Dennis said. "I could help you out with that."

"Try me," Ethan said.

"Okay!" Josie exclaimed taking hold of Ethan's injured arm so no one would feel the need to grab _that_ one and make it worse. "Dennis, I said go away. So go away," she said pointedly. "I'm here with my friends, and my friends include Ethan. So I'm gonna go with him now."

"Aw, come on," Dennis complained. He had gone from itching for a fight to feeling scolded like a little puppy dog. At least he wasn't focused on Ethan anymore. "I want to be your friend too."

"When you're sober and not acting like such an ass," she said, moving away and happy to see Ethan following.

"Promise?" Dennis called back.

Josie didn't reply, just shook her head as she walked away.

"You shouldn't have gotten in his face like that," she said to Ethan.

"He shouldn't have tried to grab you," Ethan said, calming down but a little annoyed. He didn't understand her at all. He had been trying to talk to her, ask her out even, and she disappeared on him. Then he tried to save her from the goon coming on to her, but she didn't want that from him either. Admittedly, she _had_ taken care of the situation without needing his help. Maybe she wasn't interested in him and this was her way of saying it? She _had_ just friend-zoned him in front of Dennis.

"Like I said," she repeated. "I can take care of myself."

"Noted," he replied, feeling disappointed. "I apologize for interrupting. Still friends?"

"Friends," she agreed.

* * *

They had been on the road for a few hours now.

He was driving north, up into Nebraska. He took precaution to use back roads in some areas and made sure they weren't being followed. He had even stopped to switch license plates again. He wasn't taking any more chances.

Knowing that he was still immortal relieved him. It made things a lot easier for him, and for her, but he was still worried about Triad. They couldn't kill him, but they _could_ capture him. He didn't have any powers, she did. And she, well, she had some explaining to do.

"You left me," he said, figuring he had done everything he could to ensure they weren't being followed, so now it was time to get some answers.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have. I thought we were safe from monsters. I didn't think about Triad," she said with a rough voice, looking down. "I'm so sorry."

"Why?" he asked. He thought he knew, but he wanted her to admit it. He deserved that at least.

She looked up but out the window ahead. "I was jealous."

He smirked. He knew it.

"Might be worth a shot in the heart for that knowledge," he said.

"I'm so sorry." She looked at him this time, her eyes telling him exactly how horrible she felt over what happened.

"I'll live," he said. "You do know you didn't have to be jealous."

"I know," she said tightly.

"To be clear," he said. "I want you. I've accepted that we're just friends, but feel free to change your mind any time."

She stared at him again. He glanced at her, being mindful of the road, but he had to know what she was thinking. She had that look again, like she was trying to make a decision.

What was holding her back? She had basically admitted she returned his feelings by telling him she was jealous. Jealousy didn't happen unless feelings were involved. Even a mud man knew that. She must want him too, especially if she was still having sex dreams about him. So _why_ wouldn't she just give in?

If he liked her, and she liked him, shouldn't that be enough? He had never wanted anyone like he wanted her. He had his occasional hookups, but he never wanted more with anyone else. And he wanted it _all_ with her. Everything he had ever read about or seen; the kind of relationship that had always eluded him. He wanted her always and forever. He just needed her to want that with him too.

Looking back at the road, he waited to see if she would reply. He glanced back when she still hadn't spoken. "Hope?"

Her eyes grew wide before she looked away and took a shaky breath.

 _She was still scared_ , he realized. That was the whole reason he had backed off before. She was afraid of him and the emotions he made her feel. Until she could get past that, they weren't going anywhere.

"You've got nothing to be afraid of," he said softly.

She nodded, but she didn't say anything else.

He decided to leave her with her thoughts. Nothing he said was going to change her mind, only she could do that. He would give her time—all the time she needed in fact. He had nothing but time.

A couple more hours passed and dusk was approaching before they spoke again. She started it, but it wasn't the topic he was hoping for.

"It was a big deal," she said. "Killing a human. You said it wasn't, but…"

"If I had died, what then?" he said. "Would you still be upset you killed her?"

"I'm not saying I'm upset I did it," she said. "I'm upset that I'm _not_ upset."

"She deserved it," he said. "This is war. In war there are casualties. Being human doesn't make her better than anything else—believe me, I know." He had seen enough of humans killing other humans to last a few hundred lifetimes. Humans being humans is what disillusioned him enough to return to his father to begin with.

"I wasn't raised that way," she said.

"Well, it definitely wasn't your father who taught you that," he said. " _He_ would've killed that woman and several other Triad agents without batting an eyelash."

"You're right," she nodded. "He would've. But I'm a Mikaelson, I'm their _hope_. I'm supposed to be better than that."

"Do you hear yourself?" he asked. "Everything I've ever heard about being a Mikaelson from _you_ is about family. A Mikaelson does whatever is needed to protect their family. If that includes killing a few humans along the way, so be it."

She looked at him curiously but didn't say what was on her mind.

He wanted to ask but just then the air charged around them and a paper appeared in Hope's lap in a burst of flames.

"Crap," he said, pulling over at the first available opportunity.

"What are you doing?" she asked, holding on as he came to a stop.

"Lizzie friggin Saltzman sent you a fire message," he said.

" _And_?" she asked.

"Magic? Monster?"

"That's only when _I_ do magic," she said. "Lizzie does magic near me all the time and no monsters have shown up. Calm down."

"You sure?" he asked.

" _Yes_ ," she insisted. She looked at the note. "Although…she wants to talk, which means I have to do magic to tell her a good time. I'd say I could call but…"

But he was too paranoid about Triad listening over phone lines.

He resumed driving, looking for a good place to pull over and fight a monster.

"We haven't fought a monster all day," she said. "And you know what they _say_ 'a monster a day keeps Malivore away.'"

"Alright, I'll do it," he said.

"Do what?" she asked.

"Send the message, let her project, and I'll deal with whatever monster shows up," he said.

"What, you suddenly think you're bulletproof?" she asked.

"Technically…"

"I've seen you hide behind me before even when you _knew_ you were immortal. With the mummy, and in the pit? So why would you want to take on a monster by yourself?"

"I'll have you know, with Triad I had to avoid being injured so they wouldn't know I'm not human. As for the pit, well, you didn't want to be around those things either," he pointed out. "I _have_ been sending creatures into the pit for a few hundred years now."

She gave him a skeptical look. "Okay, sure, pull over and we'll do it. Hope you don't mind Lizzie witnessing this." She was glad though. She _really_ wanted to talk to Lizzie and having Clarke occupied would be perfect.

She scrawled out the message, telling Lizzie to come in a few minutes, then sent it to her.

They waited, and sure enough a monster showed up.

"Aw, come on," Clarke groaned.

"What is it?" She could only make out a figure in some kind of coat, or smock, or… it turned around and came into the light more. "Is that a clown?"

"A jester," Clarke said. "Or more like, a _Fool_."

"You've met it before."

"You see that scar across its face? I did that. It was one of the last creatures I put into the pit before I returned myself," he said.

"Good, then you know how to kill it. Hurry up and go because Lizzie's coming," she tried to shoo him out of the car.

"We _captured_ it, we didn't kill it," he pointed out. "I don't know how to kill it."

"I guess you better figure it out!" she said. "I'll keep watch and help if you need me."

"I need a knife," he said. She grabbed one and handed it over.

Clarke stepped out of the vehicle, closed the door behind him, and tried to figure out his best plan of attack.

This is what the modern archetype of the evil clown was based on.

Jesters were often seen at the side of kings and queens during the middle ages and the renaissance. Triad's theory had been that someone either turned one of those jesters into _this_ , or the creature was completely created to perform a specific task—kill the royal heads of state. The monster must've completed its objective, but lived on, seeking out the greatest authority in each land to keep killing.

Accounts over the years indicated a creature in the attire of a fool would attack using only a knife. Its face covered in white paint, a deep red splashed across its lips and extended beyond its mouth to give a permanent smile. He had tracked this thing in the 1940s and 50s. It succeeded in killing Roosevelt and they had to cover it up with a hemorrhagic stroke. The government asked the organization to keep an extra eye on Truman, so when the fool made its appearance, he and his crew was able to capture it and send it into Malivore.

He had a knife, one that had been bathed in holy water this time, so on the off chance the jester was actually a demon he would have _that_ covered. He also had his gun, and he had his bravado. He told Hope he could do this, so he would. He was immortal, and she had a lot on her mind—giving her extra time to decide would only benefit him in the long run. He hoped.

"Oo, nice car," Lizzie said when she appeared next to Hope, sitting in the driver's seat.

"Hey," Hope said, happy to see her friend. "It's so good to see you. What's up?"

"You first," Lizzie said. "Why are we in the car? And why is Clarke out there fighting a…" she squinted. "Is that a clown?"

As they watched, Clarke backed away from the clown who was advancing with its knife held up and threatening.

"You wanted to project, I used magic to message you back, and my magic is like a living target for these things. He volunteered to fight this one so I could talk to you," Hope explained, "Which is actually kind of weird because I get the feeling he doesn't like when I want to talk to you."

"Aw, does he want all your attention for himself?" Lizzie laughed.

Hope blushed and cleared her throat.

"Sounds like someone never learned to share," the blonde looked pointedly at Clarke.

Clarke had used his ring to turn himself into a version of the scariest clown _she_ had ever known—Pennywise—and was bigger and taller than the Fool. So now they watched as the Fool went running back the other way while 'Clarke' gave chase.

"I killed a human today," Hope admitted. "A Triad agent. She killed Clarke. He's still immortal by the way. At least we know that now. Triad's turning out to be more trouble than I thought they'd be."

"Ugh, I hate them," Lizzie grumbled.

They watched now as two Fools came running at each other, knives held aloft. Clarke must've used his ring to turn into the Fool too.

"So, Seylah's out of the pit," Lizzie said.

Hope looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, Malivore figured out what we were doing and spit her out."

"So she's free," Hope summarized.

"After we got rid of a mimic demon that was controlling her to kill her sister," Lizzie said.

When one of the Fools looked like it was finally going to stab the other one, Hope said, " _Crescere arbo._ " Casting the spell to make chains come up out of the ground and wrap around her target's feet. She was pretty sure this Fool was the real one and it was about to stab Clarke. She would give a _little_ help.

The free Fool ran away and the other Fool looked toward the car, raising its arms and yelling at her.

"Oops," she said, dropping the spell to free him. It was Clarke who was about to deal the death blow.

"Sorry," she called out to him.

He took off after the Fool again, using his ring to turn back into himself.

"Hard to believe Ethan and Maya are Landon's cousins," Hope said, coming back to their conversation.

"I don't really know them, but Josie does," Lizzie said. "The Js are going to a bonfire tonight with them and some kids from their school."

"Josie's hanging out with Ethan?" she asked. "That takes guts."

"Because she broke his arm?" Lizzie surmised. "Yeah, she's not planning on telling him. Jade thinks he likes Josie, but then Jade also thinks Josie likes Ethan so she could be totally wrong because Josie only has eyes for Jade…who's been hanging out with Maya."

Hope shook her head. "Too much relationship drama, my head hurts."

"What about your own?" Lizzie asked.

"I don't have any drama," Hope denied. "Plus, _hello_ , fighting monsters all day?"

"You like him, don't you?" Lizzie nodded at Clarke who finally succeeded in stabbing the Fool, only to find out that a knife wasn't how a Fool was killed.

"What?" Hope squeaked. "No… of course not."

"Liar," Lizzie said with a look.

"Ok, I do," Hope admitted. "It's just…complicated."

"Because of Landon," Lizzie nodded.

"Landon is…he broke up with me," Hope said. "He broke my heart and…" She struggled to explain.

"Out of sight, out of mind?" Lizzie asked.

"No," Hope sighed. "It's just…is it possible to have feelings for two guys at once?"

"It is, but it honestly doesn't matter," Lizzie said. "Eventually you have to choose."

"Which one is the right choice?" Hope asked.

"Only you know," Lizzie shrugged. "My money's on the bird—if he lives through this, that is."

* * *

Chad sat down and drew his legs in.

He clutched at his arm and winced.

He had never been truly alone inside this place before. Seylah had shown up that first day and she protected him. She was also someone he could talk to. Now, he was back to being friendless and alone. Kind of like how he felt before he befriended Ted.

Maybe friends were overrated? Look how bad a choice Ted ended up being.

But no, he really liked having a friend.

It didn't matter now, because he was all alone.

He sniffled and wiped at his nose with his good arm. He was crying again, but it didn't matter if no one was there to see him, right?

Unless, of course, there was some sort of tear-loving monster that could sniff out his sorrow and would come and feed on his tear ducts.

Sniffling again, he tried to stop the tears while wiping at his face.

"Hello?" He heard a whisper in the dark, much like when Seylah had first found him.

He worried it might be a monster who could talk, but then he remembered that Lizzie said she would be back for him.

"Lizzie?" he whispered back.

"No," the voice said, coming closer.

A woman walked out of the shadows, close enough for him to see that she looked like a human. She was wearing a purple pant suit that had seen better days, and she had short blonde hair. Her mascara was streaked, as if she'd been crying too.

"My name is Evelyn," she said. "Evelyn Scott. And you are?"

* * *

Sliding the key card on the room door, Hope opened it laughing and held it for him.

Clarke had finally figured out how to kill the clown, but it had taken a lot of trial and error. He ended up covered from head to toe in muck from a marsh bed

The clown's fatal flaw was its aversion to water. Washing away the paint on its face caused the melting to start and then, before they knew it, they were standing next to a puddle of clown goo. Some of it ran into the marsh bed too, so there were probably clown bits on his legs and shoes too.

"I'm taking the first shower," he muttered.

She walked to the bathroom and put his travel bag in there. She carried both of them in so he wouldn't get the marsh muck on his stuff too. "Go ahead."

She went back over and started grabbing pillows off the bed, building up a pile on the side closest to the door. Then she sat down in the area next to the pillows, settling in to wait for her turn.

He paused at the doorway, looking to the pile and back to her. She was telling him she was okay sleeping next to him again. He was relieved. He didn't know if he could sit through another night of watching her toss and turn and not doing anything about it.

"You're dripping everywhere," she said.

"I'll be quick," he looked down at himself. "Maybe. Just don't fall asleep until I'm done."

"I won't," she said, reaching to grab the remote off the end table.

Hearing the door close, she took the list of channels out of the drawer, trying to decide which one to watch before she turned the television on.

Her eyes blurred as she read it, and she shook her head. She was tired. It had been a long day that felt like an emotional roller coaster. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to pursue anything with Clarke, but at least she knew she still wanted to sleep next to him.

She looked up when she heard a guitar playing out the window. Someone in one of the other rooms must be practicing. She hoped they didn't get any louder.

When the music stopped just as quickly as it started, she shrugged and forgot about it.

She leaned back, edging closer to the pile of pillows. She wondered how comfortable it really was for him, next to her on those pillows all night. She shifted and lay back against them. _This is nice_ , she thought.

Looking up at the ceiling, waiting for him, thinking about him, she got lost in her thoughts and didn't realize when she closed her eyes.

She didn't realize when she fell asleep.


	20. We're Not Hurting Clarke. I Won't Allow It.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **The beginning of this chapter may be triggering to some.**
> 
> _I own nothing but my own words._

Clarke was _finally_ clean.

He had decided to stand in the shower fully clothed to let the hot water rinse all the marsh crap off. When the majority of it was clear, he stripped and hung everything up to dry. He finished showering to make sure it was all gone. He dried off, pulled on a pair of pants, and went to look at himself in the mirror.

He fingered the area where the bullet had gone in but it had completely closed up already. No pain remained, and there was no scar either. He wouldn't have expected anything less. _Dear ole dad got_ _some_ _thing right._

Going through his bag, he put his razor to the side—he would shave in the morning. He _did_ need to trim his hair though and since he never seemed to have the time in the morning he would do it now. He pulled out his scissors and went to work, combing the hair straight up, holding it between his fingers on one hand and cutting straight across with the other. He was used to doing this as there had been many years before an actual barber shop existed.

Hearing a knock at the door, he looked over and said, "Five more minutes, then it's all yours."

Going back to trimming, he was surprised when the knob turned and the door opened.

He looked at her, wondering if something was wrong. She didn't normally come into the bathroom when he was in there. She especially wouldn't come in if she didn't know the state of his dress. Fortunately he had pants on, but he usually made sure to keep a shirt on in her presence. "What's wrong?"

She came inside, closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

Then she gave him the most come-hither look he had ever seen.

She reached out towards him, coming forward with a smile that spelled pure seduction and he had no idea how to react.

"What are you doing?" he almost stepped back, he was so confused. He sat the scissors down.

She ran her hand across his bare stomach and then he _did_ step back. She was _freezing_.

"Why are you so cold?" He reached down to take her hand before she could touch him again.

She shook her head then reached with her other hand to try to run her thumb across his bottom lip.

"Whoa!" he stepped back again. While he had been hoping she would change her mind about him, there was absolutely no way she would do it like this, not this suddenly or without talking about it first.

Something was wrong with her. 

It must be another monster. What did his father send this time and how was he going to stop it from doing…whatever the hell it was doing to her?

He took her other hand so he was holding them both, and walked around so his back was to the bathroom door, tugging her along with him. "Let's just go this way and— _Oof_ "

She went with the tugging a little too much and pressed against him, forcing his back to the bathroom door. 

"Hope, there's something wrong. I need you to back off." 

She didn't listen; she was too busy trying to push her hands up to tug his head down so she could bite at his ear lobe.

 _Crap_. He didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't let her do any of this while some monster was in control of her. He grabbed her arms and spun her around so he could bring them behind her back and pin her there. He was honestly surprised he had the strength to do that, knowing how strong she was.

She sank back against him, this time trying to palm him through his pants and he pushed her away from him, losing his grip on her. 

"Hope, stop."

He reached back for the door handle, turning and pulling it toward him, scooting to the side to give him enough space to get out. Then he reached to grab her arm again. He would get her out of the bathroom and figure out what to do next.

She started struggling for the first time when he tugged her toward the open doorway. "Hope, I'll figure out what's wrong, just come with me and—"

Since he was facing out of the bathroom, he could see the mirror on the wall that showed him a perfect visual of the rest of the room

Specifically, he could see Hope on the bed where he left her, fast asleep now, looking completely undisturbed except for some _thing_ with _his_ face that was crawling across the bed to get on top of her.

Spinning around, he pushed the fake Hope _hard_ into the bathroom and grabbed his scissors. She came rushing him, so he stabbed her. Tearing the scissors back out, he ran from the room to get to whatever was attacking Hope.

He hadn't even cleared the first bed before the fake Hope was jumping on his back. The scissors hadn't worked. He struggled and yelled, "Hope! Wake up!"

The fake Hope got her hands up to his head and his vision went wacky, his mind foggy. He managed to push himself back and slammed her into the mirror, loosening her hold. He took the scissors and threw them at the fake Clarke. They weren't sharp enough to stab him, but they were enough to get his attention away from Hope for a moment.

"Hope! _Wake up_!" he yelled again, but it wasn't working. She was either too tired, or the creature had done something to knock her out.

The fake Clarke hadn't done anything else to Hope yet that Clarke could see, but he needed to find a way to kill both of these monsters before it did. He grabbed the fake Hope's hands when she grabbed his shoulders and flipped her over his back, dropping her to the floor. Then he ran to Hope's travel bag. He searched through frantically and found a knife just as he was grabbed from behind again. He turned and stabbed the knife into the fake Hope's heart.

The sizzle from its skin being sliced by a knife coated in holy water told Clarke all he needed to know.

These were demons.

The female fell, and the male was now advancing on him.

Clarke circled the thing with his face, waiting for it to make a move. "You were dead the second you touched her," he glared at the demon.

Suddenly he could hear guitar music playing outside the room. He looked between the window and the demon and then he knew what he was fighting. _Incubus_.

If he didn't do something _now_ , the music wasn't going to put him to sleep because he didn't have to, but it _would_ mess with his mind and put him in a trance, just as it had probably done to Hope. He shook his head and blinked, trying to clear his head.

The demon raised its arms and smirked, knowing there wasn't anything Clarke could do to stop the music.

Clarke raised his hands to press against his ears, suddenly remembering the knife in his hand when it bumped against his head.

He grabbed the hilt more firmly, hoping his aim was as true as his trident throw had once been, and threw the knife at the demon.

The knife slammed into its chest with a sizzle. The demon fell back, but the music still played and Hope was still asleep. His mind was still foggy.

He fought through it as he stalked over, pulled the knife out of the demon and slammed it back down into its heart.

The music stopped.

Hope woke, sitting up straight and gasping for breath.

Seeing her, he quickly pulled the comforter off the other bed and threw it over the fake Clarke demon body.

There was no way he was letting her associate _him_ with _that_.

She clutched her head. "I fell asleep. What's going on? Why does my head feel like this?"

"There was an attack," he said, coming over to sit at the foot of the bed. "They're dead."

"What was it?"

"I think that one," he motioned to the female body, "was a succubus. That one," he motioned to the blanket, "incubus."

She froze with her head in her hands but glanced at him. "Those are sex demons."

He nodded. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew he had to.

She looked down at herself, and around, taking stock of everything, noting that her clothes were all in place as before, but she still needed confirmation. She held her breath and asked, "Did it…am I still…?"

"I killed it in time," he reassured her.

She gasped out a sob of relief and threw herself into his arms. Wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, she buried her face into his neck and clutched at him. He wrapped his arms around her too, probably holding her a little too tightly but she could handle it. He didn't want to think about what would've happened if he had stayed in that bathroom and tried to help who he _thought_ was her.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," she said into his neck.

"The guitar music," he said. He could feel her shaking against him. "It got in your head, put you in a trance, made you sleep."

He had read stories from Colonial times that suggested an incubus would play the guitar outside the window of its prey. It was written that the music could seduce, putting one into a trance to clear the way for the demon to enter the home. The demon could drive one to insanity with a repeated touch, breaking the mind, leading to death. Usually the demon's end goal wasn't death; it was just an unpleasant side effect of repeated visits to the same victim. Their ultimate goal? She was right, it was a sex demon. He couldn't be completely sure the demon would do more than kill her considering his father wanted her dead so badly but knowing what happened to _him_ with the succubus, he was inclined to believe the worst.

He wished he could kill it all over again. He also wanted to destroy his father even more. He was sitting on a barely contained bundle of rage. His father had done this. Malivore was stepping up his game. What had changed? Had he gotten impatient when nothing else worked? They had been off his radar for so long yesterday and today—maybe that was why. Malivore was worried they would escape him completely.

The succubus was bait for _him_. His father would've known he couldn't be killed and he wouldn't fall asleep so she could prey on him. She had tried to get into his head when her plans of seduction hadn't worked. The she-demon had been trying to keep him occupied and distracted from Hope. That he wasn't asleep was probably the only reason her plan _hadn't_ worked. These demons didn't deal in the awake, only those slumbering. She had been forced to come on to him while he was awake and failed miserably.

The only thing he hadn't known about these demons was their ability to change shape. The succubus looked exactly like Hope, down to the outfit she was wearing, and the same went for the incubus of Clarke and the outfit he had left dripping dry in the bathroom.

Hope clutched at him tighter and he could hear the tears in her voice.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take. All these monsters and I never know what's coming next. Then there's Triad, and they're coming after you. And what if they find us and try to take you, and if I use my magic on them more monsters come. And now _this_? How am I supposed to keep running for three more weeks? I'm so tired of running."

He was too. Besides the rage, this had scared him. His father had always frightened him, and he was certain that _she_ would finally put an end to Malivore. He never thought he would have to save her from his father like this though. He was terrified he would fail the next time. He had to do something. They had never been in control of the situation, but they thought they _had_ found some miniscule form of it. 

Now, though, it was time to figure out a way to be in complete control. A way to get Triad off their backs, a way they could focus on monsters in one place so they didn't have to keep running, a way for her to use her magic as much as she wanted without fear of the consequences, and a way to make sure she was completely protected so nothing like this could ever happen to her again.

"I've got a plan," he said, trying to pull back a little to talk to her, but she wouldn't let go. She clutched him even tighter. "I've got a plan, but you've got to follow everything I say. First, don't do any magic until I tell you."

He felt her nod against him. "Second, I need you to pick an outfit and change. We're leaving soon." He looked at the time. It wasn't even 9:00 pm yet. That worked for him.

She nodded against him again but she didn't try to move.

"Hope?"

She finally pulled her head back and looked up at him.

"We gotta get moving," he said.

She nodded and looked around for her bag. "Where's…" It was across the room, she would have to walk over the prone she-demon to get to it.

"I'll get it," he said. "Just go to the bathroom."

She slid off the bed slowly, still holding on to his shoulders, looking around the room completely for the first time since she woke up. She saw the comforter on the floor and wondered why he would covered up that body. Seeing the she-demon was dressed like her and looked like her, she thought she understood. She reached down and grabbed his hand, tugging him to come along with her.

He walked her to the bathroom, stopping only once to reach across to grab her bag from the table. She went in and he set the bag on the counter.

"I'll be right outside the door," he said.

She shook her head. "Don't close it."

"Okay," he left it open but turned his back to her and observed the room, making note of everything he needed to do.

Once she was dressed, she tapped his shoulder. "What now?"

He brushed past her into the bathroom and grabbed a shirt out of his bag, pulling it over his head. 

"We're leaving."

His shoes were still wet, but he had to wear them. He sat on the top of the toilet and shucked them on.

"Wait," she said, watching him from the doorway, frowning. "You weren't wearing a shirt. Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. It didn't hurt me," he shook his head. "We need to leave the bags. Only take what can't be replaced."

She took the other knife out of her bag, holding it up. "Definitely need this."

He nodded. He grabbed the clothes that he had hung up earlier and the clothes she had changed out of, and wrapped them in a towel. Both outfits were now on the bodies in the main room. He couldn't leave behind copies.

"Let's go," he said, leading the way.

She followed but then stopped. "Wait." She handed the knife to him.

He waited as she went back into the bathroom and came out wearing her favorite pajama shirt unbuttoned over top of her outfit. She pulled the material together and crossed her arms over her chest.

She nodded. "That's everything."

He led her through the bodies, stopping at the door to go back and grab his sketchpad and ring. Joining her again, he took her hand and flicked his ring.

"We're going invisible," he said. "Don't let go of me. Don't say a word."

She gripped his hand tightly in hers and nodded.

The next phase worked out completely according to plan. When they got beneath the video camera over the parking lot, she scaled the wall and moved the camera so it faced away from their room and vehicle. She moved it using the cuff on his shirt. He didn't want to leave behind fingerprints.

He remembered seeing a truck for sale by owner at a property they passed on the way to the motel, so he stopped off at his SUV to pick up enough cash. He stowed the towel wrapped clothes in the back of the car for the moment. He also grabbed a pair of nerdy looking glasses and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to make it look as messy and in-his-face as possible.

When they got to the property with the truck, he gave her the ring so she was the only one invisible and told her to get into the truck when he opened it for her. Then he knocked on the door, giving the owner a bit more than they were asking just to get the truck. He went through the motions, looking over the vehicle but as long as the thing started he didn't care.

Once the deal was made, he opened the back from a side door and pretended to look around inside. He could feel her touch him as she walked by so he knew she complied.

On the way back to the motel, he pulled into a dark alley, looking around for any witnesses or cameras. Seeing none, he told her to use the ring to make the entire truck and everything in it invisible. She did it but only after climbing over the front seat, which was a bench this time, and holding on to him. He knew it was alright, that the ring wasn't _her_ doing magic. The magic was already in the ring. If it was her doing magic, then it would've been _Clarke_ doing magic when he used it, but he couldn't do magic.

"So we're switching vehicles?" she asked.

"What gave you that idea?" he said, trying to inject as much amused sarcasm into the words as possible. Trying to act like everything was okay was only for her benefit. Inside, he was still seething.

"Why?" she asked.

"All part of the illusion," he said.

He successfully managed to avoid all other vehicles on the road even though he was driving invisible. It _was_ kind of late for Nebraska. It was also really cold. She hadn't complained and he hadn't noticed that they were doing all of this without coats. He turned on the heat. They were going to have to leave their coats in the room too.

When he parked next to the SUV, he had her get into the back again and took the ring so he could make everything invisible now. The camera was moved so he didn't have to worry about that, but if any other motel guests went walking around, they could see them and the new truck. So he gave the illusion that all was the same. The SUV, the spot next to it empty but impossible to get into since he gave the illusion that he had parked over the line.

He moved as much as he dared from one vehicle to the other. He would have to leave behind some of the weapons, and even a lot of the cash. He quickly calculated what they would need to get them the supplies for where they were going. He would use the only other credit card he had—one with a completely different name than he had never used before, created for an emergency just as this—to get them to New Orleans when the time came. He would be able to access other accounts once he got there but, for now, this would be enough.

Once everything was moved, there was only one last thing to do.

He got into the back of the truck. He had willed the illusion to include her, so she would see him as he moved everything.

"I need to take care of the room," he told her.

"Okay," she said. "I should go with you."

"No…" 

He didn't want her to go back in there—for more than one reason—but he didn't want to leave her alone. She hadn't said much since they had left the motel room, but he knew she was doing about as well as _he_ was, and his rage was almost all consuming now. He needed to let it out.

As for her, he looked down and remembered her words.

_It doesn't matter how badass you are, that's too scary to deal with on your own…_

Family. She needed family.

He reached to the front of the truck and pulled out the burner phone he had moved up there. He searched in the phone for the only number he had programmed into it.

He would consider this an emergency.

"Lizzie Saltzman's emergency line," came the voice through the phone. "What's up, Hope?"

"It's Clarke."

"Is Hope okay?"

"Yes," he said. "I need you to stay on the phone with her until I get back."

"Uh, okay, but why?"

"Just do it," he said.

Handing the phone off to Hope, he saw the relieved look on her face and she mouthed 'Thank you' before she spoke into the phone.

"Lizzie, hi," Hope said. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He took off the ring and put it on her. "Maintain the illusion 'til I get back."

She nodded.

He looked through the windows, making sure no one was around before he exited the vehicle. He didn't want to appear suddenly out of nowhere and have some random guest remember him walking about after the camera was moved.

Glad he had remembered to grab a key card on his way out of the room; he entered swiftly and closed the door behind him. He put the card on the table. Then he walked into the bathroom to take his shirt off again. No use getting this one messy. He kicked off his shoes too.

He went back into the room, pulled the comforter off the he-demon, and yanked the knife out of the body.

Looking down at the bodies and then at the knife, he felt the rage swelling up, ready to come out now that he could finally release it.

He only had one thought before he began.

Don't mar the faces.

* * *

"He's going back to the room, where the dead demons that attacked us are," Hope explained. She was glad she didn't have to go back into that room, but she would rather do that than be alone. He had come up with the perfect alternative—Lizzie.

"More than one?" Lizzie asked. She was trying to understand what was happening. Another day, another monster. What made these monsters so different that _Clarke_ had called _her_? Why did she have to stay on the phone with Hope?

"Yeah, two," Hope's voice caught and she said the rest quickly, injecting false bravado in her voice. "A succubus and an incubus."

"Hope." Lizzie said with sudden comprehension. She knew what those were. "Those are sex demons that prey on you in your sleep."

"Yeah," Hope said, voice quivering. She had gone over all of this with Clarke, but with him she had been trying to keep calm, be brave—though she failed somewhat at first. She could tell he was struggling with the situation too. "Luckily, Clarke never sleeps. Unfortunately, I fell asleep while he was in the shower."

"And you're okay?" Lizzie knew both Clarke and Hope had told her she was fine, but there was fine and then there was _fine_.

"Yeah, he killed them in time," Hope said. Physically, she was fine. Mentally, she was still a bit shaken. While she knew it hadn't done anything to her besides messing with her mind, it _still_ had messed with her mind. Clarke being there and reassuring her had gone a long way to improving her mental state.

She pulled the shirt she was wearing on top of her clothes tighter around her. She had been wearing his shirt every night since he first gave it to her. At first, it was only because it had been warm with long sleeves. After a while, it had become one of her favorite things to wear. Tonight, she went back for it because she had started thinking of it as a security blanket. Now that she was wearing it, she felt connected to Clarke even when he wasn't right next to her.

"He has this plan," Hope continued. "I don't even know what it is, I'm just following along." Clarke had taken control of the situation. It was obvious _she_ had no control. "That's what he's doing now. Taking care of the bodies…I think."

"What are _you_ doing right now?" Lizzie asked.

"Wearing his ring, creating an illusion that me and everything around me is invisible," Hope held up her hand, looking at the bulky red thing, "sitting in the back of his new truck… surrounded by every weapon imaginable."

Despite everything, Lizzie had to smile slightly. "So he basically put you in the middle of an impenetrable fortress making sure you have everything you need to protect yourself."

"Pretty much, but I guess it's because he told me not to use my magic for now," Hope said. She looked around the back of the truck, feeling like she was hiding. She hated how powerless she felt.

"I thought it was getting better, you know?" Hope said, feeling the tears welling up again. "I felt like we had found _some_ control, but we were never in control. _I_ was never in control. I feel like I'm spiraling."

"Clarke said he has a plan, right?" Lizzie asked. "So, follow the plan! Let him be in control for a while."

"What if he's wrong? What if whatever he's doing doesn't make it better?" Hope worried.

"The only time any of Clarke's plans have failed is when you messed them up for him," Lizzie reminded her. "It won't happen this time because you're on his side."

A small laugh popped out. Hope had to admit she was right. Clarke's original plan to help Malivore take over Landon had failed when she showed up and jumped into the pit. Clarke's turn as headmaster and getting the trident prepared for transferring his consciousness had gone exactly according to plan until it was time to get her involved.

"Besides," Lizzie said pleased, knowing that if she could get Hope to laugh that she was definitely on the right path. "When it comes to protecting you, he's actually kind of gotten that right every single time." She couldn't deny the proof. Whether Hope was in danger of being blown up or worse, he had come through with flying colors.

"Just let him do what needs to be done," Lizzie said. "I know you, Hope Mikaelson, you always have to be in charge, take control of every situation, but give yourself a break and trust him."

"Trust him?" Hope asked, amazed. "Who are you, and what have you done with Lizzie Saltzman?"

"I'm still pissed at what he did to MG," Lizzie said. "But I'm not the one who has to trust him. You are. Do you?"

"Yes," Hope said. "I do." She trusted him completely. Lizzie was right. He knew what he was doing. She should let him lead and she should follow.

"Good," Lizzie said. "Now, that _that_ 's settled, allow me to regale you with tales of Kaleb and Jed fighting over Alyssa."

"Please do," Hope said knowing Lizzie was just trying to distract her now until Clarke got back. She was fine with that. She _needed_ a distraction.

When Clarke finally returned, she was feeling more relaxed and had decided she was Team Kaleb while Lizzie was firmly Team Jed.

"He's back," Hope told Lizzie.

Clarke stashed another pair of pants with the towel and clothes from earlier then motioned for her to give him the phone.

"And he wants to talk to you," Hope said before handing the phone over. "Did you take another shower?" she asked him, noticing his hair was wet again.

"We're going off the grid," he told Lizzie, ignoring Hope's question. "Within the day we'll be cloaked and there'll be no contact from us until Thanksgiving. We'll contact you on this phone."

"But—" Lizzie tried to argue, but Clarke interrupted.

"No matter what you hear," he said, catching Hope's eye as she listened too, "it's not true, but pretend that it is in case anyone's watching."

"Want to add anything else to your list of demands?" Lizzie said sarcastically.

"Contact Hope's aunt," he said. "Let her know what I said just in case."

"In case of what?" Lizzie asked.

"You'll see," was all he would say. "Gotta go."

"Bye, Lizzie!" Hope called out loud enough for her to hear through the phone.

"Wait—"

He hung up on her. They had to get moving.

"Ready to go?" he asked Hope, glad to see she didn't look quite as shell-shocked as before.

"Where to?" she said, getting up to crawl over the front seat again.

He pulled himself over after her and settled into the driver's seat. "Wyoming."

"What's there?" she asked.

"Home for the next three weeks," he explained, putting the vehicle into reverse. He would pull into the same alley as last time and come out fully visible for the rest of the trip.

"You mean we won't have to stay on the road anymore?" she asked hopefully.

"That's what I mean, but we're driving straight through," he said, turning the truck around and driving out of the parking lot. "Only stopping for supplies. If you want to sleep, you'll have to sleep here, or back there." He indicated the back of the truck.

"Okay," she agreed. She doubted she would be able to sleep any time soon, but she was fine with not stopping, especially if it meant they wouldn't have to keep running once they reached their destination.

She marveled at the plan so far. She already felt a millions times better.

"Thank you," she said softly, the words spoke volumes as he had done so much for her that night.

He gave her that soft smile of his, the same one he had given the last time _he_ thanked _her_. A smile that was equal parts glad and grateful. A smile that made her heart flutter slightly before she answered it with a soft smile of her own.

* * *

"Chad was very informative," Seylah said. "He told me all about Malivore, that the pit itself is Landon's father." She shuddered.

"Unfortunately, none of us remember Chad," Alaric said. "We know he helped take out The Necromancer, but not much else."

They were seated in the lounge in his study, all three nursing a hard drink. They all needed one after the day they had—Seylah especially.

A scratchy sound rang out of the receiver Mac sat on the coffee table, followed by her deputy's report, "That's an all clear, Sheriff. The bonfire has officially come to an end, contraband has been confiscated. Over."

Mac picked it up with a smirk, "Thanks, Pete. Out." She knew her kids might complain about it later, but at least it wasn't _her_ breaking it up this time. Of course, once she had learned there was a keg at the party she had to send her deputy in to shut it down.

"Sorry," she said. "Had to check in with the kids."

Alaric shrugged. "Duty calls."

Seylah nodded before continuing, "The most important thing is to learn if Landon's alive."

Alaric didn't agree, but he wasn't about to tell her that the most important thing was figuring out a way to defeat Malivore. If Landon happened to still be alive and died in the process, it couldn't be helped. The same went for Clarke if defeating Malivore happened to affect him too. He didn't like it, but the monster they were dealing with was a combination of an untold number of monsters. Collateral damage was bound to happen.

"I'm not sure how to find that out," Alaric said. "But I do know finding Malivore's body in the pit is the best option for now. Chad's going to work on it."

"Might be here a while if we're waiting on Chad," Seylah said. She liked the boy but she was well aware of his limitations.

"Daddy?" Lizzie opened the study door, closing it behind her firmly as she walked over to the group.

"Yes?"

"I just got off the phone with Hope," she said. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared her father down. "Whatever plans we make, whatever we do? We're not hurting Clarke. I won't allow it."

Alaric raised an eyebrow. "That's a big change of heart."

Mac held up a hand, "Wait, Clarke? As in Ryan Clarke? That guy I told to leave town?"

Alaric waved his hand. "Yeah, that'd be the one."

"Hope?" Seylah asked, curious herself. "Landon's girlfriend?"

"No," Lizzie said. "Landon broke up with her."

"I don't believe it," Seylah said, surprised.

"He was being an idiot," Lizzie looked heavenward.

"Now that, I believe," Seylah shook her head. _Boys_.

"Hope's on the run," Alaric explained. "Malivore is sending hoards of monsters after her because she's basically the only thing that can defeat him, which is why we're looking for another solution."

"And Clarke," Lizzie said, glancing at Seylah, "who is Landon's brother, is helping her."

"A brother?" Seylah asked, surprised again. "I'm not surprised Malivore did this to someone else too, the poor woman."

"Er, no," Alaric said. "Clarke was one of Malivore's original creations, before he figured out how to create a kid biologically. We mostly just call him a mud man."

"It's so hard to keep all these new species straight," Mac interjected. "I can't believe there are actual witches, but to find out my nephew is a phoenix? A hell world filled with creatures? And now there are mud people? How many other kinds are there?"

Seylah looked at Alaric, surprised he hadn't told her of the existence of werewolves and vampires too considering they were standing in a school full of them.

Alaric shrugged sheepishly. "It's a lot to take in all at once, probably best to be eased into it."

Shaking her head, Seylah was about to clue her sister in but the scratchy sound from the table rang out again.

"Mayday, Mayday! Officer Owens requesting backup. There's something in these woods!" They could hear the sound of screams in the background. "The kids are running from something. I'm going in."

Alaric and Mac leaned forward immediately, worried about their kids. Mac grabbed the receiver. "Pete, Sheriff here. What do you see?"

"It's hard to see," they heard the scratchy reply. "I'm trying but… _what the hell_?" They could hear the officer holler and then the sound of gunshots.

"Pete, come in!" Mac said, springing to her feet and making her way to the door.

Suddenly there was silence.

"Pete?" Mac asked, hand on the doorknob. "Pete? Come in. What's your status?"

The scratchy sound rang out. "All good over here, Sheriff. The bonfire's over like I said. Kids are making their way home."

"I thought there was trouble," Mac said, looking at Alaric with a frown.

"Nah, everything's good," Pete replied.

"Thanks, Pete…" Mac turned back to the room. "What was that?"

"Malivore…" Alaric realized. "He's stepping things up. Think we pissed him off?"

"Ya think?" Lizzie replied, wondering if there was a connection between this and what had just happened to Hope.

The receiver blared again, "Looks like another 187. Kid this time. Female. I'll round the other kids up and start asking questions. Need assistance."

"Sheriff here," Mac said. "On my way."

"Stay here," Alaric told Lizzie as he and Seylah followed Mac out to her cruiser.

Alaric reached for his cell phone, immediately dialing Josie. While waiting for her to answer, he asked, "Those murders you've had lately, is there any connection between them?"

"Not really," Mac said. "The murders have all been done differently. It definitely isn't the same person committing these crimes."

"Hello?" Josie's voice rang out. "Dad, we're on the way home."

With a sigh of relief, Alaric said, "Good. So you guys didn't see anything strange?"

"Strange?" Josie asked. "No…Maya and Ethan figured the cops were going to break it up any minute like their mom always does, so we left. A few minutes later we heard the bullhorn in the distance breaking things up."

"Okay, sweetie, I'll see you at home," he said, ending the call.

"Any chance I can see the files of the murders?" he asked, as they all climbed into the car.

"You have a theory?" Seylah asked.

"If Malivore isn't out trying to impregnate the population, he has to be up to something," Alaric said. "If he's responsible for these murders, we may be able to finally figure out what he's up to."

"So you want to see the files because…?" Mac asked.

"If he's sending a different monster after each one, the kills will be different," he explained. "I need to know who is being killed, see if there's some kind of supernatural connection that you wouldn't know anything about."

"I'll see that you get them," Mac said, voice tight as she drove.

"Your kids are fine," Alaric said belatedly. "Josie said they all left a few minutes before Deputy Owens showed up."

Mac relaxed slightly, but a teenager had been killed. Mac may not have lost a child, but someone else had.

It was gonna be a rough night.

* * *

The sun had risen a few hours ago, and they needed to stop soon before he ran out of shopping options.

Clarke glanced down and to the right.

Hope had finally fallen asleep a little while before the sun came up. He knew she would be exhausted between the restless sleep she had the previous night and then nothing on this one. When she finally lay down, facing the back of the seat, he had been relieved. Lack of sleep was only going to make her feel worse. She was short enough she only had to scrunch her knees up slightly so her feet could clear the door.

The top of her head was currently pressed against him. He wasn't sure if she actually was comfortable, but she had been like that for at least five hours now so it must be working for her. Whenever he had to make a stop or turn, he reached out to grasp hold of her back so she didn't go rolling off the seat.

Coming to a stop outside of a large store that should have most of what they needed, he finally reached out to wake her. He grasped her back as he had been doing all morning and said, "Hope?" He didn't want to scare her awake, so instead of tapping her when she didn't stir, he rubbed his hand gently at the spot he was holding. "Hope, wake up."

This time he succeeded. She turned her head to look up at him.

"Are we there already?" she asked sleepily.

He shook his head. "We need to pick up some things first. Time to shop."

She pulled herself up in the seat. "What do we need?"

He reached over into the glove compartment. "Replace the stuff we left behind. Get your stuff, and I'll get everything else. Get anything you'll need for the next three weeks. We aren't going back out until then."

She nodded and rubbed at her eyes, trying to wake up.

"Here," he handed her the glasses he had worn last night. "Put these on."

Taking them, she looked at them curiously. "Why?"

"I'm using my ring to change my appearance," he explained. "You're gonna do it the old-fashioned way. Button up the shirt and tuck it in."

She put the glasses on and started on the shirt. "You really think this'll make me look _that_ different?"

"Pull your hair back into a tight bun too," he told her. "That should do it."

"I look like a librarian," she said when she pulled down the vanity mirror to fix her hair.

"Good," he said. "Nothing like yourself." He figured there would be a few more hours before what he left in the motel room was discovered. He didn't want anyone to remember Hope's actual face in case it got plastered all over the news. He hoped it wouldn't go that far, but he had made arrangements in case.

When they got out and went into the store, he tried his best to stay in aisles that were closest to her which didn't work too well as the misses department wasn't near anything he actually wanted.

"Would you go get what you need?" she said, pulling a shirt off a rack and checking for the size. "I'll be fine."

"Just…call out if you need me," he hesitated. "I'll be close by…" Though the hardware department was on the other side of the store.

"I'm not glass, Clarke," she said, putting the shirt back up and shaking her head at him. "I'm not going to break if you walk across the store. I'm still me. I may not be able to use magic, but I can beat things up."

Knowing she was right and he was just being paranoid, he left to get everything he needed. He rushed to get it done, not liking that he was away from her for so long.

She found him before he finished.

"Is that all going to fit in the truck?" she asked, amazed that he had gotten that much stuff jammed into the cart. Mostly things like clothes for him, food, clippers, and… an axe!

"You got me an axe?" she said, face lighting up.

"Where we're going, we'll need firewood," he said. "Not positive on the supply, so you'll probably have to chop some."

"So wait," she said. " _I_ have to chop the firewood?"

"I'll cook," Clarke said with a smirk.

"Darn right you're gonna cook if I'm chopping all the firewood," Hope said, nodding.

"Also, I figure you can't cook," he said. She had grown up going to a boarding school where all of her meals were provided. She never learned to drive, so when would she learn to cook?

"There is that," she laughed. "I can bake though!"

"I'm not impressed," he said.

"You can do laundry too," she teased as she stepped forward to pick up another package from the cart to examine.

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "That's more of a shared kind of thing."

"Hey, if I gotta chop the firewood and kill the monsters, you can cook and do the laundry," she flipped the package over. "A wig?"

"You don't get to have all the fun," he said, pulling the discounted Halloween costume package out of her hands and tossing it back in the cart. "I'm killing things too."

"What's with the wig?" she asked.

"Disguise for you," he said.

"Here I thought the librarian look was going so well," she patted her bun.

"This'll complete it," he said. "Which reminds me…" He grabbed a camera that gave instant printed photos when used.

"A camera?"

"Gotta create an ID for you," he said.

"Why don't I just create one when you let me use my magic again?"

"You can do that?" he asked. He put the camera back.

"Well, I can morph an ID that already exists to change the image and details?" she said.

"Works for me," he said.

* * *

"I'm not completely comfortable with this," Wade said, shifting in the backseat.

"Yo, neither are we," Kaleb said. "But Doctor S insisted, so here we are."

Where they were was the backseat of Lizzie's car with the top down. Lizzie was driving with MG as shotgun. All four of them were wearing Go-Pros attached to their heads feeling like idiots, and Wade was carrying a video camera too, just in case.

"I'm not comfortable with _any_ of this," Wade insisted again.

"Get over it, Tinker Bell," Lizzie said. "You want to be a member of the super squad? This is what you do. Besides, you get the easy part."

It was a brand new day—a brand new day with the knowledge that Malivore was a bit ticked and may be sending monsters to attack the community. And how could they remember afterward once the monster returned to the pit? Answer? They couldn't. All they knew was the damage and death left behind.

The gang was on patrol, heading out into the community, waiting to see if something else would be unleashed. Wade's only purpose was to record everything so _they_ didn't forget what happened once all was said and done. _See?_ Easy.

She had been juicing up all day, siphoning as much magic as possible to prepare for whatever came their way.

"The map shows movement towards the high school," MG said, looking down at the paper. "A _lot_ of movement."

"Then that's where we're headed," Lizzie said.

Meanwhile, Jed was at the school with all of his new friends. They were having lunch outside. His face was still slightly bruised, but only Ethan had given it a second look.

"Did you hear about Gretchen Meyers?" Ethan asked.

"The girl who was murdered last night?" Josie asked.

"Yeah," Maya shook her head. "Scary that we were all there moments before it happened. For _once_ , I'm glad my mom's the sheriff or we wouldn't have left early. It could've been any of us."

Josie and Jade looked at each other, each knowing that if they _had_ stayed, there was more of a chance that the girl wouldn't have died at all. Jade and Jed would've dealt with the monster while Josie got everyone out of harms way.

"There's going to be a memorial service on Friday," Ethan said. "The school's letting anyone off to go."

"I'll be there," Dennis said, joining their group. "What about you, Josie?"

Josie crinkled her nose.

"Someone died," Jade said, disgusted. "It's not the time for a date."

Ethan didn't know what it was but something about just _looking_ at Dennis made him so angry, especially now that he kept coming on to the girl _he_ liked. Was he doing it on purpose?

They all heard the squeal of tires and looked to the street. More and more cars were coming to a sudden stop.

It wasn't very hard to see why.

There were birds. Lots and lots of big birds, flying in overhead and, as they watched, the birds kept dropping feathers. Only, they weren't feathers. And they weren't dropping so much as aiming and shooting.

Screams rang out.

"Are those…arrows?" Jed squinted. "Since when do birds shoot arrows?"

Jade grasped Maya's arm. "We need to get inside." She dragged her to her feet, then grabbed for Josie.

"Wait…" Josie said, but Jade was already tugging both of them along, not caring that she was using her vampire strength a little too much.

"I can—" Josie started.

"You can't do anything right now," Jade looked back with a knowing look. "Get inside. The arrows are coming closer to us!"

"I'll be back," Jed said, taking off.

"Where's he going?" Dennis asked.

Ethan didn't know but, with what was going on, he wasn't about to leave his friend alone. He took off after Jed who had already gone pretty far. The guy could run!

"Ethan! Come back!" Maya yelled out, but she kept running along with Jade who wouldn't let her stop.

Ethan was already too far away to do more than make a signal that he was okay for his sister's benefit.

There was another squeal of tires. Seeing the arrival of the new car, Josie tugged her arm away from Jade's finally.

Jade was too busy trying to get Maya to the building, while looking out for falling arrows to notice she had lost someone.

Josie knew she should go inside, but she had just seen her sister arrive and she didn't want to leave her. She dodged an arrow but kept going towards Lizzie.

"Josie!" Jade called back, realizing she was missing. "Get inside!"

"Lizzie!" Josie cried out to her sister, ignoring Jade. "Watch out!" She saw Lizzie avoid being hit.

Josie tried to run to Lizzie, but Kaleb sped to meet her. "Get inside, girl. Lizzie is fine. _You're_ not."

Lizzie started turning arrows to flowers, reaching out toward as many as she could see.

"But—"

Kaleb pulled Josie out of the way of a falling arrow, then shook his head. He didn't have time for this. He tossed her over his shoulder and sped to the school doors. "Stay here. Without magic, you can't help." He pushed her inside and closed the doors firmly.

Staring out the door window, Josie desperately wanted to go but knew he was right. She had given up the one thing that could help protect her sister. Now was not the time to be without magic. She had made a mistake. She needed it back. She should be out there fighting, not hiding inside

Wade got out of the car with the camera held aloft, taking in the hoard of birds flying back and forth across the top of the school. Seeing everyone else get out of the car and run for the school, he went around to the driver's side to pop the trunk. No way was he standing out in the middle of _that_. He climbed into the trunk, using it as a shield by holding the lid down slightly above him. He kept aiming with the video camera at the activity outside the school the entire time.

Kaleb and MG were working together, running to grab arrows before they could hit random people, and directing everyone to get inside.

Lizzie was doing as much as she could to stop the arrows from falling on anyone. She needed to take out the birds, but she couldn't do that while she was spending so much energy turning the arrows into flowers. It was only getting worse.

Most of the students were all running for the school, but the arrows had left a bunch of them cowering.

"Get inside!" she yelled at them. They were scared and shocked to see her doing magic in front of them.

She saw the shade shift on the ground and looked up to see that most of the birds had joined in formation, flying together in a huge hoard overhead. She realized what was about to happen a second before it did. They were all going to shoot arrows at the same time.

Shifting gears, she sent out a burst of magical energy, holding the arrows up, praying nothing got through.

"Run!" she yelled at the kids again. They were finally getting a clue and started heading toward the closest building. "That's right! _Move it!_ "

Jed had scaled the wall to the roof of the school in record time. He knew what he was looking for. Some of the guys would sneak up here to take slingshots at a corn hole when they were bored and needed a smoke. He needed a slingshot right now since he didn't have anything else to use on the birds short of them coming close enough for him to grab.

He grabbed it and a few rocks. He could see that Lizzie was holding them off, and he knew he was crazy to think he could do much with a slingshot, but he had to try.

"Need some help?"

Jed looked and saw Ethan had followed him.

"Yeah," Jed nodded.

"If we're taking potshot at birds, I'm so in on this," Dennis said, joining them. He had followed Ethan because he wanted to know what Jed was up to too. Plus, he didn't want to hide inside and miss any of this.

Fortunately, there was more than one sling.

The three of them worked together to try to take out the birds.

"I've hit this one in the eye twice now," Dennis said. "It's not working."

"This is crazy," Jed said. "What kind of bird has arrows for feathers?"

"The birds of Ares," Ethan said. At Jed's look, he continued. "What? I'm into politics _and_ Greek mythology…

"But _how_ are a flock of birds that guard some sacred shrine to the god Ares currently dropping arrows in Mystic Falls?" Ethan asked. "This is insane! Mythology is just that. _Myth_."

The birds had taken notice of them and a few broke free from the group to come at them.

"Crap," Jed said. "Incoming!"

The boys jumped back, and Jed grabbed one of the birds out of the air, wincing.

"What are you doing?!" Ethan yelled, dodging one of them, amazed that his friend had grabbed and was wrestling a _bird_.

Jed struggled to break its neck, but lost his grip and had to release it. "Nothing. Let's get inside. I don't know how to kill them."

"The Argonauts made them go away by clashing their shield and spears together," Ethan said.

"We don't have a shield or spear," Dennis yelled, now throwing rocks at the birds without the sling.

"Get inside!" Jed repeated, realizing he shouldn't have let the guys stay on the roof with him. He was the wolf, they were humans. This could end badly.

"Watch out!" Ethan pushed Jed out of the way as an arrow shot to the ground where his friend stood. Then Ethan jumped back to avoid another one.

When he jumped back, he slammed into Dennis accidentally.

Dennis, who was standing too close to the roof edge, lost his balance. He grabbed hold of the edge to hang on, struggling to pull himself back up.

Ethan ran to the edge and tried to help. Dennis gripped at him. "Come on, E, help me up."

"I'm trying!" Ethan said. "Jed, help!"

Jed dodged arrows but tried to get over to them.

Lizzie couldn't hold it much longer. Her power was draining.

All of the students were clear from under the magic dome, but she realized it was now just _her_ under the volley of arrows. The birds kept releasing more and more, applying more pressure and making Lizzie use even more magic which meant she was draining too quickly. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and realized another smaller flock of birds were making a new formation and preparing to fire at her from a different angle.

She didn't know what to do. If she dropped the spell, all of those arrows would fall and she would definitely die. If she didn't stop the new arrows though, she would die too.

She was going to die no matter what.

Tears pricked at her eyes and then she screamed as she reached into the most fragile broken pieces of her mind and dragged out any trace of magic that she could find. She flung her arms and the birds and arrows above all flew along with her movement. They hit the brick wall of the school with a loud crack, shattering some windows in the process.

Lizzie ducked and braced herself for impact from the other arrows. This was it. She hoped it didn't hurt much.

Silence rang out and she didn't feel anything. _What in the world_?

Looking up, she saw that MG had run in front of the arrows to protect her. 

"Oh no you don't, not again." 

He was desiccating in front of her again. It was painful enough the first time. She had to get the arrow out that had pierced his heart. She prayed that Hope's blood hadn't worn off yet, not when they needed it most.

On the roof, Jed was trying to get to the edge to help but the arrows kept coming. One hit him in the right shoulder, and he fell with a grunt.

An arrow shot down towards Ethan's arm—his good one—the one currently doing all the work to pull Dennis back up. Ethan flung himself to the side to avoid being hit and, in doing so, he lost his grip on Dennis.

Dennis flailed before grabbing Ethan's bad arm.

Crying out at the pain, Ethan fell forward, grabbing hold of the wall with his good arm. He didn't have any strength in the bad one though. The pain was so incredible it brought tears to his eyes.

"I can't hold on much longer!" Dennis called out. " _Do_ something!"

There wasn't anything Ethan _could_ do. Without Jed's help, he couldn't get Dennis back up on the roof. It was all he could do just to hold himself up.

"Jed!" Ethan yelled, but didn't hear a reply. Was Jed okay?

"I can't," Dennis said through clenched teeth. "Help!"

Ethan tried to pull Dennis up, despite the pain, but got nowhere.

Dennis was slipping. His grip had slid down to Ethan's wrist. It was only a matter of time.

"Jed!" Ethan tried again.

Dennis' desperate face was the last thing Ethan saw before his grip slipped completely and he fell.

"No!" Ethan found himself clutching at air and staring at the ground below in horror.

He yanked himself back and sprawled backwards on the roof.

Jed finally made his way over to him, having been knocked out for a moment when he was hit. He winced as he grabbed at the arrow in his shoulder and pulled it out.

"He fell!" Ethan yelled. "He actually fell!"

Jed moved gingerly to look over the edge. He grimaced. Dennis had fallen to his death for sure.

Suddenly Ethan gasped and sat forward.

"E?" Jed bent down, worried Ethan was hurt somewhere else. He grabbed for Ethan's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Ethan moved his head back up to look at Jed, breathing hard. His eyes glowed black and gold.

He pulled away and then he didn't move to stand so much as he pounced to his feet.

Jed's mouth dropped open. "You're a _wolf_."

Ethan shook his head, not understanding his friend's words.

Before Jed could begin to explain, a large black pit opened in the sky, and all of the birds flew up and disappeared inside.

Jed and Ethan looked around.

"Why are we on the roof?" Ethan asked. He blinked and shook his head.

"I don't know," Jed shrugged. He shifted and winced. "My shoulder is sore though."

"Maybe we should go back inside?" Ethan suggested.

Jed nodded and headed for the exit.

Ethan looked down at his right arm and flexed his fingers. He didn't feel any pain at all. In fact, it felt like it was good as new beneath the cast. _Huh_.

Josie looked around and wondered why she was standing inside the school doors. Everyone else looked as confused as she. She remembered having lunch and then… She couldn't remember what happened next, so she opened the school doors and went outside.

Looking around, she noticed something in the distance on the ground. Was that a person? She quickly walked across, but stopped when she saw she was correct. "Oh my God! Someone call 9-1-1!" She looked back at the front doors and saw Jade standing there, looking just as confused and concerned as she.

"Dennis?" Josie asked, kneeling down next to him. "Dennis?" She could see the blood on the ground beneath his head. She reached with tentative fingers to search for a pulse. Not finding one, she flinched back. _Is he really dead_?

Lizzie had absolutely no idea why MG was desiccated in front of her, but she saw the arrow in his heart so she yanked it out immediately.

He returned to the land of the living with a gasp and cried out at the pain. He was also completely covered in arrows. She started pulling the other arrows out as Kaleb arrived to help.

"I thought he was a goner," Kaleb said, shaking his head. "I could've sworn one of those arrows hit his heart."

"No," Lizzie said, shaking her head. "Missed the heart. Just barely."

"Uh, guys?"

They all looked to Wade who was crawling out of the trunk, nearly falling to the ground. He held the video camera up in his hand.

"You should really see this!"

* * *

"I feel like a snowplow," Hope said, her hand raised, making her magic push all the snow out of the way as Clarke drove up a snow covered road on the side of a mountain.

"Well, technically…"

"Oh hush," she rolled her eyes at him. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost," he promised.

She looked around. There was nothing but snow for miles. They hadn't seen anyone either, though at this point she assumed most people would have to be crazy to live this far out in the middle of nowhere in _this_ weather. They were probably few and far between, and nestled snug in their cozy homes until the weather had passed—or their summer homes were up the mountain while their much more sensible homes were further down in the city.

Since he said she could start using her magic, she had placed the cloaking spell on them she had been working on before. The one she used on her mother but with a twist so _she_ would be able to find Clarke though no one else could.

She had also been on the lookout for monsters. They had been so far off their radar since that morning that she figured they would have a ways to go to catch up to them. She also didn't know how the cold would effect them, so bonus if they froze trying to get to her. But then, she also thought that maybe something was wrong with their theory since the demons had attacked last night and she hadn't used her magic. Plus, there was the time earlier in the day yesterday when she had done magic and nothing showed up.

When Clarke _finally_ took a hidden turn off, she grew a bit restless anticipating getting out of the truck and gaining back all the control they had lost.

He pulled around behind the house and parked. 

"Give me a minute." 

He got out and ran to the wall straight ahead, opening some hidden panel and typing in some numbers. The wall moved open to reveal a garage. Hope kept an eye out for any monsters that might attack him, but he made it back to the truck without incidence.

"Where are we?" she asked. "What is this place?"

"Old Triad facility," he said. "They haven't used it in years. The code was still programmed to what _I_ originally put in. They won't expect us to show up here, and there's no way for them _to_ know."

Putting the truck into drive, he drove forward then quickly got out and closed the garage again.

As soon as she got out, he came to her. "Put a boundary around the house, like that force field you put around the pixie queen. Make it go all around, down below the ground, and up above the roof. Reinforce it, like, ten times, but make sure we can leave while nothing else can get in."

Nodding, she concentrated and began working on it.

He started unloading the truck.

After a few moments, she went to the door to the main house.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"Exploring!" she exclaimed, excited. "And I want to reinforce the boundary spell in areas I can't see, just to make sure."

She took off again and he put his next bag down to follow her.

He finally caught up to her outside one of the rooms on the second floor. She looked inside.

"This is where we'll sleep," she decided, before she reached out to touch the wall and made an extra boundary around that room only, so it was extra protected. "Or _I_ will. You can sketch or whatever it is you do."

"You know there are rooms with more than one bed down the hall?" he asked, seeing that she chose the one with only one bed, a king size. Most of the rooms had multiple beds for other operatives, but this one had only one because it was for the leader of the unit.

"This one has a bathroom attached," she gestured to the left side of the room. "Plus, you know you always stay with me anyway." She shrugged.

"True," he nodded then watched her practically skip away. Amused, he followed her again, but this time it was only to watch her. Someone was excited. He was pleased she was happy with the plan.

Coming to the front of the house, there were three large windows connected in an intricate pattern in the hall, giving a perfect view of outside.

She looked out at the snow covered trees and grass. "I know they're coming already. I wonder if they'll just line up outside waiting for their chance when they realize they can't get in."

"It's possible," he shrugged. "Either way, you get to face them on _your_ terms. You want to fight? Go do it. Take a break for lunch? Do it. You want to go to sleep and not worry about something attacking? Do it."

Grinning, she hugged him quickly, "I love this plan!" Then she was off again, continuing to explore.

He went back downstairs to keep unloading, and she eventually came down to join him—mostly to get her stuff to bring up to the bedroom, though she did carry his stuff upstairs too.

In the midst of figuring out what he was making for dinner and putting a tea kettle on the stove, she came into the kitchen brandishing the new axe.

"I'm ready to kill things," she proclaimed. She saw what he was doing and laughed. "Tea? Okay, Vardemus."

He made a face at her. "It's freezing outside. You'll thank me later."

"If you say so," she shrugged and looked at the axe, deep in thought. "I looked outside again. I thought I saw something wondering through the trees. I'm going out."

"Do you need me to do anything?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head. "I got this."

And she did. Have it.

He watched her from the kitchen window, sipping the tea that he had gotten used to during his time at the school.

She had been great all day, being strong, joking, and relaxing, excited even. But deep down he knew she still had some issues to deal with from last night. He had dealt with most of his own, but she hadn't.

As she took off the head of one creature before advancing on to the next one, he knew he was watching her deal with those issues now, slaying her own demons.

He nodded, relieved.

She was going to be okay.

* * *

After they had dealt with everything at the school, and the sheriff came in to investigate the death of yet another teen, they all returned to the Salvatore school to view the footage.

They sat in awe, watching the swarm of birds with feathered arrows for wings.

Lizzie couldn't believe she had managed to do so much with her magic. She had never taken on something of that magnitude by herself. She never needed to before—she always had her twin by her side.

Unfortunately, the angle of the camera meant they couldn't get more details on the death of the local high school football player.

Watching MG run to jump in front of her to protect her, she had to reach out and grab his hand. "Thank you," she murmured. She leaned into his side. She felt his smile more than she saw it.

She was also _very_ glad MG had been facing away from the camera when the arrows hit. They didn't want to explain to anyone else why MG hadn't died due to an arrow in the heart. They were taking that secret to the grave.

Getting back to class or even taking a nap would've been preferable to what she had to do next—go tell a prisoner that visitation hours had been cut so as not to anger the warden.

Taking a deep breath, she commenced with the spell.

"Lizzie!" Chad exclaimed, seeing her with her glowing ball.

"Yes, it 'tis I," Lizzie said, feeling bad. After the day she had, she knew she probably shouldn't be here and risk the wrath of Malivore, but hey, maybe he would just release Chad too like he had done Seylah. Something told her he knew Seylah was far more likely to succeed. Chad wasn't.

She had used Seylah's clothes from the pit to find Chad. Luckily—or unluckily?—he had bled on her when he had been injured.

"Hello," a new voice said.

Lizzie saw that Chad had made a new friend. At least she could tell Seylah that and give her some peace of mind—though that fell very short of actually getting Chad out of Malivore.

"Chad, have you found it?" Lizzie said.

"No, but I think she might be able to help. This is Evelyn," he said, indicating the other woman. "She's _seen_ it."

"You mean, like somewhere in this world?" Lizzie asked, hopeful.

"No," Evelyn shook her head. "On earth. I saw it right before it touched me. I was lost in this dark void after that, until the next thing I knew I was standing next to some guy who pushed me into this…blackness." She looked around.

"Wait…" Lizzie said. "Was this guy kind of medium height? With curly black hair?" That was probably the most accurate description of Landon she had ever given, but she wanted nothing to prevent Evelyn from correctly identifying him. This was too important.

"Yes," Evelyn nodded.

 _Oh wow_ , Lizzie thought. This was huge.

"So you've seen Malivore's actual golem body and can identify that too?" she went back to her original purpose for being there.

"I-I… yes," Evelyn nodded. "I can help Chad find it. Why do you need it?"

"To stop him," Lizzie said. Then she realized suddenly that even if they could use his body without killing Clarke, once Malivore was gone so would this world. If they didn't do something to get Chad—and now Evelyn—out, they would perish right along with Malivore. _Great_.

"You'll keep contacting us?" Chad asked hopefully.

"That's the thing, I can't do it as much as I thought," Lizzie said. "He's ticked because of what we did and is unleashing Armageddon on earth. I might not be back until Hail Mary time. Which means, we _will_ need it the next time you see me. You've got to find it."

"We'll do our best," Chad said.

Evelyn nodded.

"Great!" Lizzie said. "You do that."

She dropped the spell and returned to her room. She knew she was being abrupt, but she didn't have time for boring pleasantries.

Standing up, she immediately went to find her father.

This was big. 

Landon was _alive_.

If Malivore could take over Evelyn and she still lived when he jumped out of her body, then the same principal could be applied to Landon. If they could find some way to get Malivore to jump out of Landon's body, Landon could survive.

He was still there, somewhere inside his body.

There was a chance they could get their Hobbit back.

* * *

Night had fallen, and Hope had just finished her shower.

The only light in the room was a night light plugged in across the room. They were protected, but they didn't see the need to draw attention to the room they were sleeping in by keeping a light on all night.

He waited for her to come in, wondering if things would be different now. She hadn't been back in a bed since she had woken to learn what had happened last night.

She did seem a bit uncertain. On the way over, she stopped to crack open a drape to look out the window.

"You can't see anything right now," he said. "Don't bother."

Hope nodded, and took a deep breath. She walked to the bed and pulled up the comforter, getting ready to slide in underneath the covers.

She wanted to ask him a question, but she was nervous about it. She knew he would be okay with it, but it was kind of a big step for her. She needed it though. It had been a rough day and she really wanted him to comfort her again. He usually just did it on his own. This would be the first time she asked for it.

He saw her hesitate and searched for words to reassure her that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, but he also didn't want to bring it back up if she was trying to get past it.

"Hope?"

"Will…" she put the comforter edge back down and finally asked, "Will you hold me?"

"Come here," he said immediately, nodding and motioning for her to come to him.

Smiling, she pulled the comforter up again and slid in, scooting over to him. Fortunately, he was under the comforter already too because of the cold. She wrapped her arms around his chest, and rested her head somewhere over his heart.

He put his arms around her, holding her as close as she needed. The rest of her pressed against his side.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his chest.

"Anytime," he murmured back, amazed.

He lay there holding her until her breathing finally evened out and she fell asleep.

She stayed right where she was all through the night.

He was amazed that she had managed to, once again, make him feel something he had never felt before.

Wanted.


	21. You're My Purpose Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

He could get used to this.

Every night she crawled across the bed and fell asleep in his arms.

He didn't need anything to occupy himself with while she was sleeping, not when he could hold her in the dark. The most he did was adjust the comforter if it slid down.

So this was what it felt like to be wanted.

They had come a long way since they first met. Their acquaintance had always been based on tit-for-tat or necessity. She dragged him into the pit to get revenge on him for activating the final lock of Malivore. He got his revenge in return by attempting to put his consciousness in her. Neither had any say in his being linked to her subconscious, just as she didn't have any say in whom she went on the run with. He had been the one to show up and get her out of Virginia. She had gone along with it because she didn't have any other option.

This though? Her asking for him to hold her? She didn't have to do that. She could've chosen to go to bed like she did every night. But instead?

She wanted _him_ to hold her.

He had never been wanted, not even by his own father.

It may seem like something small, but it was big for him.

He wasn't just the guy she got stuck with out of necessity. He was the guy she didn't _mind_ being stuck with, so much so that she clung to him when she was at her most vulnerable.

He already knew she had feelings for him, but he didn't really know what that would entail just like he didn't know what his feelings for _her_ would entail—he just did what needed to be done to protect and help her. Relationships were more than physical, he knew that, but going past the physical was something unknown for him. In the short period of time he had known her, she had shown him what true happiness was like—even helped him to experience it for himself. And now? Now she had shown him what it felt like to be truly wanted.

Clarke figured there was so much more to learn and feel, but he wasn't in any rush. He didn't need more than she was ready to give at the moment. Having her sleep in his arms every night was enough for him.

* * *

"What _are_ you doing?" she asked, observing him dragging in a wheelbarrow full of snow.

She had gotten up early that morning to start fighting monsters. It had only gotten easier since they arrived in Wyoming. The creatures wouldn't be waiting in the clearing like she had hoped, but they did make their presence known fairly quickly once she walked out into it. She knew when they were approaching even if she couldn't see them as she drew back on her training with Clarke and Lizzie. She could feel them.

And then she would attack.

So many of them died by the same means: a blow to the head or heart. If any of them were too different, Clarke was nearby already searching to figure it out. His experience came through more times than the books did.

Whenever they couldn't figure it out, well, she would just go back inside until they did. She had a means of escape now. A safe haven tucked away into a remote mountainside, the snow getting deeper and deeper by the day—at least in their little corner of the world.

He instructed her to use her magic to control the weather, just like she had when she made the rain stop with the troll. She made it snow throughout the night and stopped it come morning. She hoped it wasn't too far reaching. She didn't want to endanger anyone else. But it sure seemed to tick off the monsters that got stuck in it with no escape. She didn't have any problem fighting in it, as she just used her magic to plow it back.

"Improvising in the event one of the monsters gets a brain," he said, pushing to set it down on a towel, a big basin on a table nearby.

"Meaning?" she asked.

"There's a water filtration system here, doesn't mean they can't access it at some point," he said. "Making sure nothing poisons us."

"I'm not sure if you're incredibly smart or incredibly paranoid," she raised an eyebrow.

"You're still alive, aren't you?" he said.

"True," she said, walking over. "I still think you're being paranoid. I have a boundary all around this house, reinforced so many times that nothing could ever get in."

"The pipes extend beyond the house," he said.

"If the Lockness Monster comes up through the pipes and bites my ass, you can say I told you so," she said, laughing.

"Nessie's too big to fit through the pipes," he said while knocking off a hunk into the basin.

"Nessie? You mean you've actually seen—" she cut herself off, shaking her head. "I'm not even surprised anymore."

He smirked.

"I'm going back out," she said, grabbing her axe by the door. "Watch out for yellow snow."

He laughed.

He had lived long enough to look for the unexpected. It wasn't if you were paranoid; it was if you were paranoid enough. Anything could happen. He had learned that through the years, especially when it came to these monsters. He would take every precaution. He wouldn't die from some poison in the water supply—though it would probably be an unpleasant experience—but she would.

Keeping her safe was the number one priority.

* * *

She couldn't find it.

The next day hadn't started well, and it was getting even worse.

She had gone through all of her bags, all of the supplies she had shoved into the bathroom drawers. She even went through his stuff, but she couldn't find the small box she _really_ needed at least one day every month.

Her pills for cramps.

She was one of the lucky few who only had to deal with this for three days tops, but that middle day—today—was the one where the pain was the worst if she didn't take anything.

Maybe it had fallen out in the truck?

She went down and searched as best as she could, but she couldn't find it. Sighing, she wondered if it had fallen out of the cart. She _knew_ she had put it in there. He had said to make sure she got everything she would need for the next three weeks. At least she had the other supplies she needed but without the pills her day was going to suck.

This was a Triad facility, right? They had to have a first aid station or medical bay somewhere. She remembered seeing a first aid box on the wall in the kitchen so she went to look through that. Band-aids, ointment, gauze, tape—it had everything a standard first aid kit would have, but no pain pills.

"What are you looking for?" Clarke asked, walking in to join her. He had been cleaning some of his guns to use for target practice on the monsters later. Of course he would come around when she least wanted him to. Close quarters meant very little privacy.

"Did you get anything for pain?" she asked, closing the box back up.

"No," he shrugged. "We both heal too fast to need that."

Which was correct, if she had been injured, but cramps weren't caused by an injury, it was just a fact of life. Once a month, like clockwork.

The last time this happened he was in her subconscious but as long as she took her pills, she didn't have a problem with it. The cramps went away or never even started if she took them soon enough. He hadn't mentioned it back then and neither had she.

She had a thought and couldn't help laughing out loud. If he had actually taken over her body like he tried to so long ago, he would be the one dealing with this right now. _Would've served him right_.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"I have a headache," she said. "I'm gonna go lie down." She would look around upstairs first. Maybe she would luck out and find something.

He frowned, immediately concerned. "It's not from a monster is it?"

"No," she shook her head. "Even a tribrid has an off day, Clarke," she hastened to reassure him. He had been doing everything to make sure nothing bad happened to her again, she didn't want him to think he had failed.

He nodded reluctantly. "Want me to come up?"

She had to smile. It _was_ possible for her to lay down in a bed without him by her side. His concern was adorable though.

"Go shoot things," she suggested. "Keep the monster population down 'til I get back."

The monsters didn't usually approach without her being present, but he had a sniper rifle and could sometimes see them through the trees. He also had a ring that could create the illusion she _was_ in the clearing. If they fell for it, he would get lucky _if_ they died by a shot to the head or heart. He knew she didn't like when he went outside without her, even if he couldn't die, so he wouldn't do that.

When her second floor search came up with nothing but a heating pad, she went ahead and did what she told him she was going to do. She burrowed under as many blankets as she could find and tried to find a comfortable position which seemed impossible with the pain now flaring up in her abdomen and lower back. She would use the heating pad on one side, switch to the other when the pain became too annoying, and then repeat. She started wishing she had something to make her sleep too. She would rather sleep through this.

She had no idea how long she was up there before he finally came in to find her cocooned in so many blankets it probably took a moment for him to figure out where she was.

"Dinner?" he asked. Well, now she knew she had spent the entire day lying there.

She answered with a groan. She was _not_ moving from this place, and the thought of food just made her nauseous.

She felt the bed shift on his side and knew he had joined her. She groaned again, wishing he would go away. She wasn't really up for socializing. Couldn't he just let her die in peace?

"What hurts?"

He must've realized she wasn't telling the complete truth about that headache thing. It probably had something to do with her curled into a ball under the covers facing away from him and not gripping her head or something.

"My lower back," she mumbled. The heating pad was on her abdomen, so her back was killing her.

"Can I try something?" he asked.

"Okay," she said.

She jerked slightly when she felt his hand on her lower back. But she relaxed when he started rubbing it. His hand was warm through her clothing. _This wasn't so bad._

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes."

He kept rubbing and kneading at the area until he realized she had fallen asleep.

When he was sure she was really out, he sat up to watch over her like he always did. He missed having her in his arms though. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but she didn't seem alarmed and she had reassured him, so it wasn't something caused by a creature. He had just never seen her ill since he'd known her.

At some point in the evening, she woke and silently slid out from under the blankets to go to the bathroom. He heard the water running, but he never heard the shower so he figured she took a bath.

When she returned, she pulled away some of the blankets and got in under what was left. She still turned away from him, but she reached over for his hand. He followed her lead and ended up lying against her back with his arm around her this time.

"I feel better," she said softly. "Thank you."

He answered by pulling her in close to his chest as she fell asleep again.

It took two more times of her waking up to go to the bathroom before he finally figured it out. He searched his mind and eventually found a memory of the only time she had ever taken any kind of medicine when he was in her subconscious. It was for this same exact reason.

He relaxed now that he knew she _definitely_ wasn't dying.

How long did these things last anyway?

* * *

Thankfully, she was feeling _much_ better come morning.

He was relieved when she got up to face the monsters just like it was any other day.

Watching from a window, he saw a new creature approach. It was a _really_ large cat, large enough to ride like a horse. He wondered if she would finally change to her wolf form today. Most of the monsters moved on two legs. This one, with its four legs, might make changing form to fight easier.

Seeing what _looked_ like smoke coming from the creature's ears and mouth though, he knew he had to immediately shut down that idea.

He pulled the door open. "Hope!" he called out to her. "Don't wolf out!"

"Why not?" she called back. She had been thinking about doing that very thing.

"That's not smoke," he motioned to the creature. "It's an odor that draws in creatures so it can eat them. Let's not be Panther food today."

Nodding, she asked, "How do I kill it?"

"It's one of Dionysus' favored creatures…" he thought of everything he knew about the god of wine. "I don't know."

She dove through its legs to avoid its mouth. "Take a guess!"

"After it eats, it sleeps for three days," he called out the details.

"Sure, let's just have it over for dinner then." She jumped onto its back. The cat immediately tried to shake her off.

She wrapped her arms around its thick neck.

The creature stopped shaking and decided to run with her.

"Oh for crying out—" she said, gripping tighter but not trying to break anything now. "Be right back!" she called out to Clarke.

He closed the door to shut out the cold and resolved to wait. She never went that far from the house. She would figure it out and get back soon.

Just when his patience was starting to wear thin and he considered going out to find her trail, the door flew open. She used magic instead of her hand, mostly because her hands were full.

"We're not keeping it," he said, taking in the huge mountain lion she was carrying. The thing was nearly as big as her, and it was gravely injured.

She rushed to one of the tables and laid it down.

"I killed the Panther, but not before this guy nearly became its lunch," she turned it over to see the wound.

"Hope, the fact that thing isn't attacking tells me it's too far gone," he said. "Put it out of its misery."

"No," she said firmly. "No more senseless killing. There has to be a reason. A good one. And there's no reason to kill him."

"It's not senseless if it's a mercy kill," he said.

"What if I can heal it," she said, staring down at the wound. This animal wouldn't have even been in harm's way if they weren't out there drawing all of the monsters in. This animal was her responsibility. She didn't want it to die, not on her watch.

"Can you?" he asked.

"I used to be able to…" she said, remembering back to when she was young and sneaking to do magic when her mother wasn't looking. "I healed a butterfly once, when its wing was broken."

"That hardly compares to a mountain lion," he pointed out, though he did wonder if she could do it.

"I can try, right?" she looked up at him. "You're always insisting I try new things, push the boundaries of my magic. Why _can't_ I heal an injured animal?"

"Go ahead then," he motioned for her to try.

She looked back down at the animal and focused. She willed her magic to enter the wound and repair the damage. She didn't have words to use, but she could feel the magic inside her hastening to follow her command.

As he watched, the wound became smaller until it was nothing more than a slight scratch in the coat of the huge animal…The animal that was now feeling much better and immediately came to its feet, hissing at them.

Hope's eyes glowed and she hissed right back at it, showing the animal it's superior. The cat backed down, but it was wary. Hope directed the animal to the door and it sprang from the table, running to escape back into the wilderness. She cast a quick protection spell over it, hiding it from view from the other creatures until it was past them all.

She turned back to him, practically glowing.

It was good for her soul, to remember what it felt like to care and not to kill. Her mother had instilled that in her. She had lost a lot of that while fighting all of these monsters. That was probably why she was struggling so much. When killing became her new normal, she didn't feel like herself anymore. She had to remember not to let all the death change who she was.

"Consider those boundaries officially pushed," he said, fascinated by her power once more. He had never known anyone who could do what she could with magic. It awed him slightly to think he had only seen a sliver of her true potential.

* * *

One of the things he remembered to pick up on their supply trip was a sketchbook for her and some pencils and paints. Since they had to abandon that particular plan in Kansas when they had to flee quickly, he made sure to get her some things on their last run.

Later that night found them sketching together side by side on top of the covers. Night had fallen, but she wasn't tired yet—probably because she had gotten so much sleep the day before.

"The mountain lion?" he said, looking over at her sketch.

She nodded. "Working on the outline. I'll paint it tomorrow." She needed this, as a reminder of the lesson she had learned today. She couldn't allow herself to get lost in the darkness.

He went back to working on his own drawing, in the story of himself as he called it. She figured he was going to need a few more sketchbooks if he was planning to cover eight hundred years using images alone. She _did_ hope he let her read it as some point. While he knew nearly everything there was to know about her, she didn't know that much about him besides the obvious.

"What's your first name?" she asked.

He looked up, giving her a strange look, "Ryan."

"No," she shook her head. "Your _first_ name. What did your father name you?"

"He didn't," he said simply.

She frowned. "Why not?"

"Why would he name something he didn't want?" he said. "I wouldn't have survived past that first day if I hadn't been immortal."

 _And that would probably be the reason he didn't share much_ , she couldn't help but think. His existence hadn't ever been moonbeams and sunshine. He wasn't supposed to exist. He had been created by a creature who thought he made a mistake and would've thrown him away to try again. He deserved better than that. Anyone deserved better than that.

"So he doesn't call you anything?" she cleared her throat, pushing down the anger on his behalf.

"Not much of a talker," he shrugged.

"Eventually you had to take a name though, right?" she asked, still intent on learning more about him. "What was the first one you had? The first you chose for yourself?"

"Jakob," he said. "Only, I didn't choose it." He put his pencil down on his night stand and turned to the front of the book. He found the drawing he was looking for and showed it to her. It looked like some kind of village, rustic with huts, and there was a young man sitting out front of one with a book in his hands.

"You've got to remember, I was created looking as I do now, but I had everything to learn," he explained. "I wanted to please my father. I couldn't understand why he didn't want me. I followed him as he continued to absorb the creatures all over the world. I was mostly a nuisance to him, though sometimes he'd acknowledge my existence. Eventually, curiosity led me to a village in Europe where I tried to learn what I could, hoping _that_ would make the difference in me. When asked for a name, I couldn't provide one. The village elder decided to call me Jakob…

"I've had a plethora of names since. During my time there, I learned all about religion—what everyone else believed anyway. I knew that wasn't my truth. I was taught to read from the only book most prominent in those times: The Bible. Borrowing from that, I've gone by Noah, Jeremiah, John, and so on. An archangel or two like Gabriel."

He smirked, "I even used Adam once, as a joke. You know, the whole God created Adam thing, like Malivore created me? ...

"Eventually I grew bored of those names, and started using names of kings like William, James, Charles. Made it easier for me to blend in as those names became more popular. My last name before I went into the pit was Henry."

She didn't expect to learn so much from asking him such a simple question. She knew there was so much more to learn about him, she just didn't expect it to fascinate her so much.

"So, why Ryan?" she asked. "Was there a King Ryan somewhere?"

"No," he said. "Ryan actually means 'little king'. I was trying something new."

"And Alex?" she asked, remembering his latest new identity.

"Alexander the Great," he said. "I was rushing when I made that one, so fell back on the names of kings."

"All these names… what do _you_ most want to be called?" she asked.

"Ryan," he said, looking up at her with a slight smirk but he was being entirely truthful. "I want _you_ to call me Ryan."

She didn't miss his enunciation. "What about everyone else?"

"I don't care what they call me," he shrugged. "I don't care about them."

Her face flushed slightly, knowing he was telling her he cared about her. That wasn't anything new. And his wanting her to call him 'Ryan' wasn't anything new either. It had just been in an entirely different context last time. But in _this_ context, well, she could follow his request. It was an easy enough one, calling him by the name he most wanted to be known as.

"So, _Ryan_ , ready for bed?" she said, putting her drawing on the night stand. Then she realized how that sounded, and flushed even more. She looked at him and saw he was biting his bottom lip, trying not to laugh.

"Not a word," she warned, but she couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up either.

He hit the light on his night stand, and moved to get under the blankets, laughing the whole time. She did the same, sliding over to lie against him like always, but she buried her face in his chest since she couldn't stop laughing.

* * *

"Wanna try?"

She eyed the long weapon in his hands. He had it lined up and sighted out the window from the second floor. She was only inside with him because there seemed to be a marked uptick in the number of monsters converging at once. He was going to 'trim the herd' so to speak

"Not really," she said. She was already trained in many different ways to kill. She didn't need to learn another one.

As she watched, he took out three pretty quickly. All head shots. Quick and clean. Painless.

She had so many mixed feelings towards the monsters.

The ones like Joan of Wad who were harmless, just cursed with powers that Malivore could use against them—those were the ones that hurt the most; except, she didn't even know how many of those she had already killed. It wasn't like they stopped to chat before they attacked. The three that Ryan just killed, how many of those wouldn't hurt a fly? They would never know.

Then there were the other ones.

She despised the ones who would take pleasure in doing them harm. The ones that Malivore was originally created for, to take out the monsters that did the most harm because that was what _they_ were created for.

Knowing Ryan was there to slay her demons while she slept made it easier for her, but she also knew it would be a long time before she went to sleep without wondering what could happen to her in the night. She was protected now, and she had never actually seen anything or been aware of what was happening that night, but she knew it would stay with her. She didn't know how long it would, but so far it hadn't gone anywhere no matter how many monsters she tried to kill to make it go away.

"What is _that_?" she asked, seeing one of the creatures coming to kneel and lean over a deceased one.

He squinted. "Maybe Baba Yaga?"

"Baby Yoda, say what?" she asked, confused.

"Baba Yaga," he repeated. "But no, she's a witch who just happens to eat children. Malivore can't control a witch. Maybe U'tlun'ta? She has this spearfinger thing. Likes to eat livers."

"Then no," she shook her head, watching below. "That creature isn't just interested in the liver. Is there a creature who likes to eat arms?" she asked, seeing the thing bite into the forearm of a deceased one.

He checked his sight again as he lined up his shot of the new creature.

"Maybe a jikininki? Some kind of ghoul," he explained. "It consumes the flesh of the dead."

"Just the flesh? Or maybe more?" she asked.

As they watched, it became apparent the creature was fine with eating all the parts.

He readied to shoot it, but stopped when she reached out.

"Don't shoot it," she said.

"Why not?"

"Well, I was gonna dig another big hole to move all the bodies into since they're piling up again, but why not just let the ghoul take care of it?"

"Because once it's done, it'll try to kill you and eat _your_ flesh, maybe?" he said shaking his head, but he didn't kill it.

He started looking around for other monsters hiding in the trees to shoot.

She looked too, but she kept going back to watching the ghoul.

"Was that what it was like?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"When?"

"When your father sent you back but you were breaking down?"

He didn't reply.

"You said you had to consume—"

"We've all done things we're not proud of," he interrupted her.

"I know," she said. "You're not a ghoul, Ryan."

"I know that… It wasn't like… _that_ ," he said. "But, I couldn't…I couldn't absorb them like he does, I don't have his power." He knew it wasn't the best sight to behold. He had taken a lot of his rage out against his father on his victims when he had been forced to be the bad guy he wanted him to be.

"You killed monsters," she said.

"Well, _you_ killed the Shunka," he said. "That one lasted a while."

"That was huge!" She remembered he was still posing as Vardemus at the time.

He grew quiet then admitted, "I didn't just kill monsters."

"What did you kill?" she asked.

Why was she asking all of this _now_? Or at all? He didn't want to have this conversation. He knew what he had done was wrong, but he did it anyway because he didn't really have any other choice so he just embraced it. It was pretty much the only time he had power over anything. With the last two… He had nearly blown his cover when he went after the blonde that he knew came from the pit. He had waited too long to consume something and having his senses flooded with the stench of the pit had made him act without thought. He had even killed the bartender too. It was pure luck that no one else was in the bar or he would have probably killed them too just to cover it all up.

"Whatever or _whom_ ever I wanted to," he said, making eye contact with her, wondering if this was the moment she would turn from him completely.

He knew she had been struggling with the killings. Her tears after killing the pixie queen showed that. She could claim all she wanted that it made things easier the more she did it, but there was no way someone who could cry after killing someone or who would think to heal an animal instead of putting it out of its misery could ever be as cruel and heartless as she feared. 

He also knew she worried the darkness she may have inherited from her father would consume her and turn her into something she didn't want to be. But she was a far cry from that, especially when she had such a forgiving nature. The things she had forgiven him for were numerous. Would she forgive him once more? He wasn't going to apologize for his actions though. His direct reply and hard stare right now was telling her just that.

"Why?" She needed to know.

"Because they were there? Because I could? I was angry? I didn't have a choice? Because I didn't care? Take your pick."

She nodded and looked back down at the scene below.

He shot the ghoul in the head, and turned around, sliding down against the wall. 

"Stop watching it."

"Don't really have a choice now," she said, seeing the creature fall and not get back up.

She turned and slid down next to him.

"I'm not judging you," she had to say. He may act like he wasn't bothered by what he had done, but he clearly felt some kind of remorse or the ghoul wouldn't have gotten to him.

He didn't reply.

"I've killed people," she said. "I've killed creatures that didn't deserve it. I'm the reason my parents are dead. I've made horrible choices. I have the potential for this great darkness inside of me, just waiting to be unleashed whenever I die and activate it. So, if you think I'm going to hold any of what you've done against you, think again. Judgment has no place between us…

"You're my friend, Ryan. Nothing's going to change that."

He gave her a weak smile.

There were so many things wrong with everything she said. She was so much better than him, better than he had ever been. But she was also the only one who would ever forgive him for all he had done, which was good because she made him feel like he _could_ be better than his past actions—that he could be valuable, that he could be worth something. That he wasn't just a colossal mistake on the part of his father. That he was meant to be here. Meant to be with her… except… _Friend_. He would take it if that's all he would ever have with her, but he really wanted more.

* * *

"I told you so."

"I bet you just couldn't _wait_ to say that," she gritted her teeth, cringing back. She didn't like snakes. "It didn't bite my ass though."

Snakes. Friggin snakes! At least she hadn't been _using_ the toilet when they had come up out of the bowl, but she sure as hell would think twice before using it again now.

"So, how are we getting them out of here?" he asked, squeezed up next to her in the doorway.

She shuddered. "Just kill them. Shoot them or something."

"May not be that simple," he said, watching one that was slithering across the ceiling. "Some snakes are depicted coiled in a circle with their tail in their mouth to symbolize immortality. These might never die."

"Believe me," she said, eyes flashing with anger at the description of a symbol she was _very_ familiar with. _The Hollow._ "They will. Nothing is immortal. There's always a loophole."

She conjured a spell, calling on her magic, infusing it with her rage, demanding her will be done, and _Zap!_

He jumped back out of the doorway with the force of her spell. Black lines of magic shot from her finger as she pointed at each of the snakes. They disintegrated on impact, leaving behind nothing but black dust.

"What was _that_?" he said, feeling the furious after effect of the spell hanging heavy in the air.

"A reminder," she glared around at the remains. "That even a snake can be defeated."

"Oh…kay?" he didn't get it. He was also pretty sure she had just used black magic without a spell, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"I'll put a boundary over all the pipe openings too, I guess," she sighed, letting go of the rage and swaying slightly. "Make extra sure nothing else can get through."

"You do that."

* * *

She couldn't believe it had already been a little over a week since they had arrived in Wyoming. Time passed so much faster and with so much less stress when they could relax every night.

It was hard to believe it wasn't that long ago her biggest worry was how to get him safely out of her subconscious. It seemed like months had passed.

Of course, that was the catalyst for all that followed and everything he had done for her ever since.

She looked over at him. He wasn't working on his book tonight. He was lying back on top of the covers, his arms crossed behind his head, deep in thought.

"Ryan?"

"Hmm?" he glanced at her.

"Why did you stay to help me after you got your body back? I mean, you saved me, and you went on this crazy journey with me," she said. "Why didn't you leave before anything with Malivore happened? You could be living the life right now, free and clear of all monsters."

He considered his answer carefully, wondering how truthful he should be, and then decided she needed to know all of it. Things were never going to change with her unless she understood the true extent of his feelings, at least what _he_ knew of them. He was still trying to figure everything out.

"You once asked me what I would do once I got my body back. I didn't have an answer at the time," he began.

She nodded. She remembered that dream, when she was painting as he wondered around her studio.

"I didn't want to return to the father who would torture me for my failures. Serving him, getting my revenge, my life revolving around him in some way—that had always been my purpose though. Without that, what _was_ my purpose? What was I supposed to do _now_?"

He made sure his eyes were staring directly into hers for the next part.

"Within an hour after leaving the cemetery, I knew," he said. "Whatever my plans, whatever I did next, it would all depend on one thing...

"You. It all depends on you. You're my purpose now."

Her breath caught as he stared into her eyes with that intensity of his that could make her toes curl.

She knew he wanted to be with her, she just never knew how deep the feelings ran. She didn't think asking him her question would lead to this. Hearing his words, she wanted to go to him. She wanted to be with him in all the ways he wanted her. The feelings she had for him were there, right below the surface, and she wanted to tell him, but…she couldn't.

He reached out to her, to tuck back a strand of hair that had fallen forward down the side of her face, but he stopped. His hand stilled in midair because she had never given him permission to touch her like that. But maybe, just maybe, she would?

"Hope…"

He whispered her name with such longing that she had to look away.

"Don't be afraid of me," he said. "I'd never hurt you."

"I know," she said, looking back at him, if only to reassure him. "I'm not afraid anymore."

"Then why?" he asked softly. "I know you like me. I know you accept me for who I am. So why look away instead of being with me?"

She squeezed her eyes closed tightly wishing she had a better reply but she owed him her honesty. She opened her eyes.

"I can't say yes to you when I'm in love with someone else."

He let his hand drop.

"Landon."

He sat up, pulling himself down to sit at the foot of the bed.

"Of course. How could I forget?"

He rubbed at his eyes with his fingers, glad to see they were still dry after the crippling blow she had just given him.

"That's it then? Friends forever because of him?"

She followed, sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry."

"He broke up with you," he pointed out, knowing it was pointless. Everything had come full circle. He thought they were finally making progress. He knew there was always a chance it wouldn't go well, but he had been hopeful for once.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "I still have feelings for him."

"You have feelings for _me_ too," he insisted.

"I do," she admitted. "But I can't do that to you. I can't be with you when I know I'm not over him. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"I don't care," he said, staring straight ahead across the room.

"What?" she wanted to reach for him, but knew she shouldn't.

"I don't care about your feelings for him as long as you have them for me too. Love him." He looked at her again. His gaze was equal parts frustrated and desperate. "Just give me whatever's left. Give me _something_."

Her heart ached for him. She never realized just how starved for love he was. She wanted him, she just…

"I don't want to hurt you," she insisted. And he _would_ be hurt if this ended badly.

"It's better than nothing at all. I've had nothing," he scoffed. "Believe me, its worse."

"And what if he survives?" she had to ask. "What if when this is all over Landon survives, and…? _Then_ what?"

"At least I'd have had you for a little while," he said.

"Ryan…" Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

"Please," he pleaded.

She couldn't say no. He wanted it too much. She wanted it too. She would do this for him.

"Okay," she whispered, wondering if she was making a mistake, knowing it didn't matter. He needed her.

He seemed shocked that his pleading had gotten through to her for once.

She reached out to touch him, but paused. "May I?"

"Anything you want," he breathed out, staying very still lest she change her mind.

She reached with her middle and forefinger together and stroked the backs down the side of his face and along his jaw.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him.

It was everything she expected it to be and so much more.

When their lips met, she felt like everything exploded all around them. The heat, the longing, the firm press of their mouths—it all felt so good, so true, so right. Just like magic.

He slanted his head and the kiss deepened into something so hot, fiery, and passionate she gasped into his mouth and reached up to thread her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, urging him to stay right where he was.

He wasn't going anywhere. With her gasp, he only pulled back enough to nip at her bottom lip before he kissed her fully again.

She moaned into his mouth.

He was in heaven, a place that would always escape him, but if he could go there he knew it would feel exactly like this.

She was everything he ever wanted.

Who was he kidding? He would never be able to let her go. He just had to trust she would choose him in the end. He would do everything to make her see he was the better man for her. There was no other option.

He was careful not to take more than was offered, no matter how much he wanted to grasp her to him, fall back on the bed, and pleasure her until she promised to stay with him forever. He had promised he would never scare her or hurt her. Letting her take the lead had worked well so far or his mouth wouldn't be on hers.

Eventually they had to come up for air, and she pulled back, breathing hard, still holding on to him. Their eyes met and she ran those fingers up the side of his face again.

"Hold me?" she asked the words she always asked every night before bed.

"You don't have to ask," he said.

She climbed back up the bed into her usual spot and he followed, walking around and climbing in next to her.

When she came to him this time she kept her head on the pillow next to his, her entire body turned toward him. He turned toward her too.

She reached out to him, tracing his face, no longer hiding from the intensity of his gaze as she explored his features with her fingertips, memorizing them, taking her time as he made no demands of her.

Inside, she was reeling. She knew it would be intense, but she didn't know his kiss would make her feel things she had never felt before. It felt like coming home. Like this was where she was supposed to be. Like his mouth had been made just for hers and nothing else would ever fit quite as well.

If he saw her as his purpose, maybe she really _was_ supposed to exist, to be here in this moment, as more than just a loophole to destroy a hell dimension. Maybe she wasn't some cosmic mistake. Maybe she was right where she was supposed to be, by his side. 

Maybe he was her purpose too.

Maybe.

She kissed him again, lying there, and he kissed her back. This kiss was gentle, sweet. He reached his fingers up to stroke her hair back, loving that he could touch her like this now.

Her fingertips traced his lips. When they parted at her touch, she leaned in again, giving him a soft kiss. 

"Good night, Ryan."

"Good night, Hope," he murmured.

She nuzzled her face into his neck and rested there, thoughts whirling, with her hand at his shoulder until she fell asleep.

He was going to take this all as a good sign. They had finally taken things to a physical level with that kiss and she had definitely liked it. _A lot_. It didn't matter that he had to put his pride aside for it to happen if it meant he could eventually have her. He just had to make her see how good it could continue to be, being with him.


	22. Just Grab Me And Whisk Me Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

**A Little Over A Week Ago…**

"Why did you think this one was a domestic dispute?" Alaric asked while looking through the first file Mac gave him.

After a somber night of interviewing confused teenagers who remembered nothing that could explain the death of their fellow classmate, the three of them had returned to their homes with the promise that Alaric would visit the station the next day and try to find a connection between the murders and Malivore. Seylah went to stay with Mac in her guest room. She was there now, playing catch up and trying to adjust back to human life once more.

He was sitting across from Mac at her desk while he had sent Lizzie, MG, Kaleb, and Wade out to keep an eye on the community. He ensured they wouldn't forget whatever they saw by making them wear Go-Pros. Lizzie hadn't been pleased, but she did as he said.

"Because she'd been burned with an iron and had sustained a blow to the head before she was shot with a gun owned by her boyfriend," Mac explained. "The boyfriend was recently transferred upstate to be held awaiting a bail hearing. Hopefully he's denied."

"What did the boyfriend have to say about it?" he asked.

"Claimed he had nothing to do with it," she said. "But he also couldn't provide an alibi. He admitted he hadn't gone anywhere for hours, but he couldn't explain why he hadn't heard anything, not even the gunshot."

"He couldn't explain?" Alaric asked. "Or he couldn't remember?"

Mac looked up at that, considering. "It's possible...knowing what I know now."

"How _did_ you get your memories back, by the way?" Alaric asked. He had been meaning to find that out for some time now.

"You'd have to ask Seylah," Mac shrugged. "She left a vial for me to drink."

"Huh."

Alaric nodded, pulled out his phone, and started texting.

"Who are you contacting?"

"A friend. That," he nodded at the first file, "is enough for me. Sending the names of the victims to him, see what he can come up with." Especially since Dorian was getting very antsy in his recovery. Sitting all day until his wound was healed was giving him cabin fever. He was nearly there, but Emma wasn't letting him take any chances.

He pulled the second file toward him. "What about this one?"

Before she could reply, they were interrupted.

"Reports of trouble at the high school," Pete said, poking his head into the room. "Another student is dead. Possible suicide."

Mac stood immediately and Alaric frowned. "I'm coming with you."

With all the information she was gathering, Mac just nodded and let him tag along.

* * *

"The first two are witches, Ric," Dorian told him on the phone later. "They kept to themselves, didn't advertise that they practiced, but they are definitely witches. The third, the girl? Still searching but haven't found any connection yet. As far as I can tell, Gretchen Meyers is just a normal teenage girl in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Thanks," Alaric said, sighing deeply as he hung up. He was waiting for Mac to arrive. She couldn't put the kids' video from the high school today into evidence, but she wanted to look at it herself and try to figure out what happened to Dennis—the student that died that day.

As for the murders, it was as he thought. All this time Malivore had been up to something and he was none the wiser. _Why_ had he killed at least two witches that they knew of? The other file had shown the woman was killed with something really sharp—though forensics couldn't determine if a knife was used. Forensics _did_ confirm that she had been tied up and burned before death.

Malivore was torturing them before he killed them.

Torturing meant he needed something from them. But what? And more importantly, had he gotten what he wanted?

"Daddy!" Lizzie said, bursting into his study. "I have news!"

"So do I," he said. "You first."

"Landon's _alive_!" she said coming up to the desk and slamming her hands down on the wood, face lighting up victoriously. "There's someone alive in the pit who Malivore took over, and he put her there when he switched from her body to Landon's. He's still alive somewhere in there!"

Alaric looked down, shaking his head. "Honestly, at this point it would almost be better if Landon _were_ dead."

"How can you say that?" Lizzie asked, perplexed.

"Before all of this," he motioned around, "the only way we knew for sure to destroy Malivore was for Hope to trigger her vamp side and jump into the pit—which will probably kill her. Now that we know the golden arrow will kill a phoenix for good, we have another option. But either way, it's Landon or Hope. One of them will have to die."

"Well, that's just _not_ acceptable," Lizzie denied firmly. "I'll find a way to get that golem body if I have to go into the pits of hell and get it myself."

"We don't even know what to do with it once we get it," Alaric said.

"Then we'll figure it out!" Lizzie exclaimed. "We sure did step on _someone's_ toes when we tried before. _Clearly_ we're on the right track."

"And Clarke?" Alaric asked, remembering her proclamation the previous day. "What happens if the only way to destroy Malivore's body destroys Clarke's too?"

"Then we'll just…" Lizzie looked around for the answer. "We'll figure out a way to protect him first before we do anything."

"Lizzie," Alaric said very seriously. "You can't save them all."

"Watch me!" Lizzie said.

She was being as positive as possible. She knew this was looking more and more impossible, but all her therapists had said she shouldn't dwell on the bad. She would take deep breaths, go upstairs, meditate, and try not to worry about everything that could go wrong. Why, oh _why_ did Josie have to give up her magic _now_? She would really love to have her sister working by her side like always.

"Where are you going?" he said, as she turned to leave. "Don't you want to hear _my_ news."

"I need a minute!" she huffed, stalking away.

And he needed a drink, but he was trying to wait until after Mac arrived. If he started now, he would probably end up having more than he should before he turned in for the night.

He had faced some pretty steep odds throughout his life since arriving in Mystic Falls, even overcoming the grave and being a vampire himself. But Malivore seemed to be worse than anything he had ever faced before. To unleash any number of monsters on the world at any given time? And the only way to defeat it was the death of a teenager—one of whom he loved as his own child.

There was a soft knock at his study door. Figuring it wasn't Lizzie so soon, he called out, "Come in!"

The sheriff entered holding a folder under her arm.

"I've got the video ready for you," he said, indicating his computer where he had loaded the file. "I can send it to you too. You probably didn't need to come all the way out here."

Mac came over and sat down at the chair across from him, her face pensive. She held the folder before her now, gripping it a little too tightly.

"What's that?" Alaric asked, nodding at the folder.

She shook her head, cleared her throat, and leaned forward. 

"Ric, do you have a photo of Hope I can see?" She thought she had met her once before, with Maya, but it was too long ago and far too short a time to be sure.

He sat up straighter, frowning slightly. "Why?"

"I really need a photo of Hope," Mac said again.

" _Why_ do you need a photo of Hope?" Alaric asked, suddenly fearing her answer.

Mac looked at him with her sheriff face, the one that spelled out bad news. She was bracing herself for his reaction. 

"I never put a search out for Ryan Clarke, or flagged his name. But I _did_ create a private internet search alert in case any red flags came up in general. I got a hit today."

" _Why do you need a photo of Hope_?" Alaric asked again, insisting as his fear turned to dread.

"There was a double homicide at a motel in Nebraska last night. One male, one female. The male has been identified as Ryan Clarke. The female can't be identified."

"Let me see it," Alaric demanded, reaching out for the folder as all the blood drained from his face.

"Ric, no," she shook her head. "Just give me a photo of Hope so I can identify—"

"Just let me see it!" he said, standing up and leaning forward, his hand out insisting.

She kept the file against her, but opened it slightly. She found one of the photos with the girl's face, one of the better ones. She slid it up a little, only revealing what was necessary and turned it around for him to see.

He sank back into his chair, staring at it. "It's her."

He shook his head. "But she should've come back. Once she died. She would come back as a vampire."

"A what?" Mac asked, raising her eyebrows.

He didn't bother explaining, his mind was too busy trying to find a way to negate what it was seeing. There was no way she was dead. She couldn't be. "How long were they dead before they were found?" Maybe she just hadn't woken to begin her transition yet.

"The bodies weren't discovered until noon today, central time," Mac said. "Coroner couldn't place time of death, but the parking lot camera was moved around nine in the evening, so that's the assumed time."

"That's too long," Alaric shook his head. "Too long. She should've come back by then."

"Back from where?" Mac didn't like this. She was pretty sure Alaric had just said _vampire_. Of all the things she had learned over the past couple of days, the existence of _vampires_ seemed the most ridiculous.

"She's really gone," he said. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like his lungs were crushing him. Whatever Malivore had sent after her, it had won. It had killed her in such a way there was no coming back from it.

"Show me the rest of the photos," he insisted.

"Absolutely not," she gripped it firmly to herself. "You don't need to see that."

"I need to know what kind of monster did this," he said. "What did it do to her?"

"Not as much as it did to _him_ , that's for sure," she said. "It tore them apart, Ric. With a really sharp knife. It was left at the scene. Only fingerprints on it belong to the both of them. Local law enforcement don't have any leads."

Alaric shakily grabbed a glass from a nearby shelf and filled it with the decanter on his desk. He gripped the glass, raised it, and then slammed it down before taking a drink. She wouldn't want him to lose himself in alcohol at her death.

Clarke was supposed to protect her, damn it. He was supposed to make sure this didn't happen. He didn't like him, but he thought she was in good hands with him despite everything. Clarke had even garnered _Lizzie's_ loyalty somehow.

 _Lizzie_. And Josie. And MG. Kaleb. Raf. All the students. They would have to know.

He folded his hands together on the desk in front of him, clenching them as the emotions started overwhelming him. In all of this, all of the loss he had, he never thought he would lose one of his girls.

"Dad, I think I have a plan," Lizzie burst into the room again, ready to take up her cause. "I want to—"

She stopped when she saw her father sitting with a face of obvious distress, and… _were those tears_?

"What's wrong now?" Lizzie said. "What happened?"

Alaric struggled to find the words, so Mac supplied them. "Your friend, Hope, and her traveling companion, Ryan Clarke, they've been found. They're dead, honey."

Lizzie reared back. "What?!" She looked back and forth between her father and the sheriff. "That's not possible. Clarke can't die."

Alaric looked at her sharply. "But their bodies were found."

"Clarke said…" Lizzie thought back to the conversation. She looked around the room, touched a wall to siphon some magic and said, " _Auditus obstructionum_."

"What was that?" Mac asked.

"In case anyone is listening," Lizzie said. She was worried about bugs. Hope said Triad was more trouble than she had thought. She wasn't about to take any chances.

She looked back to her father. "Clarke said that whatever we hear, it's not true, but we should act like it is. They're not dead, Dad. I promise. I talked to them last night."

"What time was this?" Mac asked, shifting around.

"Maybe nine-thirty or ten o'clock?" Lizzie said, trying to remember.

"Which would've been ten-thirty or eleven in Nebraska," Mac said, sitting up straight. That was well past the possible time of death.

"But the bodies," Alaric said, nodding at the folder.

"Clarke was taking care of them while I was talking to Hope," she said.

"They look exactly like them," Mac said. "What kind of monsters were they?"

"…Shape shifters," Lizzie said, searching for a lie and nodding when she found a good enough one. She would let Hope talk about _that_ later if she wanted to. Her father didn't need to know right now. He looked like he was struggling enough from the roller coaster of emotions of thinking Hope was dead and now knowing that she was alive.

"Oh…" Lizzie realized. "He totally thought this through. Set it up to look like _they_ were killed to throw Triad off their trail. They won't keep looking for them if they think they're dead."

"Which is why their faces were untouched," Mac nodded. "So we could ID them. Or at least him. She's not in any databases. He pinged though."

"How did you get that file?" Alaric asked Mac, suddenly worried.

"An old buddy of mine," she said. "Since you didn't want anything to trace Clarke back to Mystic Falls, I had a friend in Kansas send me the file encrypted."

"Good," Alaric said, breathing a sigh of relief. "If they can't trace him here, they can't identify her so we won't be notified and be forced to pretend she's dead." He looked at Lizzie. "I'll let her aunt know just in case."

"I kind of already told her," Lizzie said sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell _me_?" Alaric asked.

"I was going to, but then a monster attacked the bonfire and it kind of slipped my mind?" Lizzie said apologetically. "But Clarke specifically told me to tell Freya, so I did that first thing." She figured by 'aunt' he meant Freya and not Rebekah since Freya had been Hope's legal guardian until she turned eighteen. She didn't know how to contact Rebekah anyway.

"Excuse me if I'm a little behind on all of this supernatural stuff," Mac said. "But you said the monsters killed were shape shifters? Wouldn't Triad know the difference between a monster and them?"

"No," Alaric said. "Triad only knows Clarke isn't human. They don't know anything else about him. For all they knew, he really _was_ whatever monster they found the body of. Same goes for Hope…

"So, _Clarke_ did _that_ …" Alaric remembered what Mac said about the murder scene. Now that he knew Hope was alive, did he _really_ want to leave her with someone capable of _that_? Even if Clarke was only trying to make it more difficult for Triad to piece the situation together, it was pretty extreme. "Lizzie, what he did to those bodies, he tore them apart. Was that really necessary?"

Lizzie pressed her lips together, contemplating, "Oh yeah. Definitely."

She added, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure they were already dead before that?"

Alaric shook his head. "So, Hope…?"

"Is _fine_ ," Lizzie answered him. "We won't hear from them 'til Thanksgiving. Plus, they're cloaked so I couldn't find them if I tried."

"Just as well. Figured out Malivore is torturing and killing witches. Wouldn't want him to track them that way," he said.

"Witches?" she said. "But why?"

"He must be looking for something," Alaric said. "No clue what."

"Maybe the video will help?" Mac brought their attention back to the original reason she came to visit.

As they watched, it became apparent that nothing in the video was going to help—not even the videos from the Go-Pros. It especially didn't help with determining what happened with Dennis. Lizzie already knew there was nothing on there, but she watched along with them just in case.

"With Dennis being on the roof at the time the birds were attacking," Mac said, "I think we can rule out suicide. The birds probably caused him to fall. Now, how to explain that to his parents." She would have to tell them it was an accident. A tragic accident. The school would probably be facing a lawsuit for not taking better precautions against student access to the roof. The paraphernalia up there was evidence it had become something of a secret student hangout.

"The only other question I have is, how did that boy survive being shot with all of those arrows?" she said, pointing at MG. "Is he like Clarke? He can't die?"

"Oh, that's because he's a vampire," Lizzie said. "Good thing we didn't bring along any of the wolves. They wouldn't have survived." Dad had grounded Rafael from field work after his last trek. He was too emotional and would endanger everyone, including himself. Jed had been at the high school keeping an eye on Josie and Jade.

"Wolves?!" Mac asked.

"You know, werewolves?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow at her father. "Didn't you fill her in on supernaturals? She's literally sitting in a school full of them."

"Not all supernaturals, apparently," Mac looked at Alaric sternly.

Alaric shrugged apologetically.

Mac sighed. "Honestly, the only new information this video gave me is why all the windows in the main building were shattered."

Lizzie's smile was _very_ big, "Sorry?"

"You saved all of those students," Mac said. "I think we can forgive a few broken windows."

Lizzie sighed in relief.

* * *

**Two days ago…**

"Are you sure about this?" MG asked, following his best friend as per usual. "Because, I don't know…"

"You took the vial I gave you, didn't you?" Lizzie asked. She was _not_ taking anymore chances when it came to MG. They didn't know how much longer Hope's blood would last in his system, so she had snagged a werewolf cure—which _they_ at least now knew was just that, Hope's blood—to give to MG before they went out on her latest mission.

"Yes, but—"

"Then you'll be fine! Nothing to worry about," she grinned at him.

"What about _you_?" he asked.

"Relax, we aren't going to _engage_ the king of the underworld," she said. "Just observe some of his creatures, and if by chance a portal opens, well, then, just grab me and whisk me away into it."

"I can't believe I agreed to this," he shook his head but he was smiling. He was probably the only one who went along with all of her schemes. This one was pretty extreme, but it was for a good cause—saving the world. And _this_ Avenger was always up for saving the world. "Everyone's going to forget us."

"Hope won't," she said. "And if we go in together, you won't forget me. So we're good. We'll find a way to get the memories back. It worked for Hope."

"I'd never forget you," he grinned ruefully at her.

"Simmer down, MG," she said. "Even you can't overcome Malivore's permanent death thing. But it's fine. Because we're going in together. Now, be on the look out."

Her Dad had downright refused her plan at first, but he couldn't disagree that the only way to get the golem body—and Chad—out were if someone went into the pit and got them out. Someone that Malivore couldn't _keep_ in the pit. Like a witch and a vampire.

Lizzie's plan was pretty straight forward. Get into the pit. Use Seylah's shirt soaked with Chad's dried blood to light a path to Chad. Hopefully Chad had already located the body. Then they would all grab hold of each other with MG running at warp speed to use his power while Lizzie did every spell she could think of using _her_ power. The combination of the vampire and witch powers being used should be too much for Malivore to handle and he would _have_ to spit them out even though they were holding onto the body.

Her father was in the process of writing down all of his favorite memories of her in case her plan actually worked, though she insisted they would figure out a way to return them.

The only other thing he had insisted on was that she kept sight of the ultimate goal. If there was a choice between getting the golem body out and _anyone_ else, she _must_ get the golem no matter who got left behind.

She didn't like that idea, but she knew he wasn't wrong. The memories of her would be lost for nothing if she didn't get that body out. And Hope and Landon would still be in trouble.

The hardest part of the entire plan was to try to catch a ride in an open portal. After the incident with the birds, Malivore hadn't attacked the community once. There weren't any new reports of murders or even accidental deaths. No one could explain why, but they were grateful for the brief reprieve. That didn't change the fact that he was still up to something.

Lizzie and MG were following the lights on the monster map, the one from the locator spell performed on Landon's hairbrush. So far, they only saw the monsters from afar but hadn't engaged any of them. They were observing them in broad daylight just to see what would happen.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.

The map itself had changed too. Instead of lights leading a trail across the country, there seemed to be a concentration in Wyoming, and only a few clusters in Mystic Falls.

Was that where Hope and Clarke were? Wyoming?

It still didn't explain why there wasn't a stream of lights depicting monsters across the map. Malivore was releasing them in Mystic Falls and they were traveling there. Had something changed again? And if there were only a few left behind in Mystic Falls, were those only because Malivore needed decoys to hide his _own_ movements? Or were those the ones Malivore was releasing and absorbing again to increase his own power?

If that second theory was correct, then eventually she and MG should find a portal.

She hoped.

It took four attempts before she finally hit pay dirt.

"It's Malivore," Lizzie whispered. They were crouched behind some trees, observing the creature that looked like Landon.

"And the largest wolf I've ever seen," MG whispered back, feeling a chill.

"Ignore the wolf," Lizzie said. "If he opens a portal, you know what to do."

And then he did—open a portal for the incredibly huge wolf to go into.

MG grabbed Lizzie and sped toward the blackness.

Unfortunately, it closed before they could get through.

"Damn it," Lizzie said when MG came to an abrupt stop and they were still in the daylight.

"Uh, Lizzie…" MG said, looking back at Malivore who didn't look pleased to see them.

"Um, _hi_ , Landon's dad," Lizzie said, grabbing hold of MG and backing away. "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, isn't it?"

Malivore was too busy glaring at MG.

"Uh, yeah, Landon's dad," MG said awkwardly, backing away too. "Hey!" He waved.

"Don't suppose you'd let Landon come out and play? You know, release him, since we asked politely?" Lizzie said.

Malivore didn't reply.

"No?" Lizzie continued. "Well, just, um…how about you send some monsters after us?"

"Lizzie!" MG said through clenched teeth.

"Just, you know, open a portal right over here and send them out?" Lizzie suggested hopefully.

"Why bring forth more when they're already here?" Malivore finally answered the witch.

MG looked around and then behind them. He saw four scary looking monsters advancing on them.

"Sorry, Lizzie," MG said. "Time to go!"

He picked her up despite her outraged yell, and sped away as fast as he could, leaving the monsters _far_ behind.

Bypassing her car and the town, he kept going. There was no way he was stopping until he was positive they were safe. Arriving back at the school, he finally set her down. He looked around. At least at the school warnings would go off if the monsters tried to get in.

"MG! We almost had it! Why'd you do that?!" Lizzie said, frustrated.

"There were monsters coming after us," he said.

"And I could've immobilized them, or froze them, or any number of things to stop them in their tracks so he could open a portal for more!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"No, he couldn't. He wouldn't," he insisted. "He knew we tried to jump into that portal. He wasn't going to open another portal near us. All of the monsters left in Mystic Falls were probably rerouted to our location. I had to get you out of there."

Lizzie let out a frustrated scream, threw her hands in the air, and walked inside to stalk to her room.

_Now what?!_

* * *

**Present day…**

His hand propped up his head as he lay next to Hope, looking down at her sleeping. The morning sun streaming through a crack in the curtain gave him enough light to see her fully.

She had barely stirred all night, just sought out his warmth. Her face appeared peaceful, giving no indication that the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

Giving no indication of how _his_ world would change once she opened her eyes.

He had spent the night imaging what life would be like with her from now on. Would he be able to kiss her whenever he wanted to? Would he be the one she sought out first in every room? Would she tell him everything happening in her mind, sharing it all with him? He missed knowing her constant thoughts. Would she open up to him? Always let him in, never shut him out? Would he be able to convince her that he was the only one for her?

He didn't know what would happen when she woke; but, for now, he was going to enjoy the view and get lost in his thoughts. She was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, and she kissed him last night. She had feelings for him, and she wanted to be with him. 

Ignoring all the rest, he couldn't help but wonder that if someone such as her could want him, then his father had been wrong about him all these years. He _was_ worth something.

She finally stirred, waking up slowly, and opening her eyes to see him peering down at her.

With a sleepy smile, she murmured, "Hi."

He liked his reception already. He answered with a smile and a hint of smirk.

She stretched slightly, closed her eyes again, and then looked up at him. "What's up?"

"What do you dream of?" he asked a question he had wanted to for some time now. "When I'm not near you?"

"The pit. Endless darkness," she reached up, running the backs of her middle and forefinger up the side of his face like she had the previous night before she kissed him. "I think my subconscious misses you. When you were there, I was never alone."

"Sometimes I miss it," he murmured. "Being inside of you, but then…I couldn't do this." He reached out and touched her lip with the pad of his thumb.

"Or this…" He leaned down to kiss her, thinking that hopefully, eventually, he _would_ be inside of her again, just not in the same way.

She returned the kiss, amazed again at how right it felt to do this with him. This morning could've been so awkward after last night, but it wasn't. Everything that had been holding her back had become a non-issue. She wasn't afraid of the feelings he invoked in her, not after he had done everything he could to protect her, and especially not after she gave in to him last night and he hadn't expected anything more than she was ready to give. He let her kiss him, and then was fine when she put a stop to it.

As for the other… that might be becoming a non-issue too. She had been so worried that her feelings for Landon would be unfair to Ryan, she didn't think one kiss from him might go a long way to showing her how wrong she may have been about Landon all along.

Still, she didn't want to get his hopes up. Her heart ached for him from his words last night. She didn't want to hurt him anymore than he had already been hurt all his life. She clearly didn't know her own mind enough to make a firm decision. She would give Ryan what he asked for, and hopefully the rest would work itself out eventually.

Loud noises from outside finally penetrated their morning kiss.

Lying partially on top of her, Clarke groaned in frustration as he pulled his mouth from hers. "Someone's anxious to meet their impending doom."

He leaned across her body toward the window on her side, ignoring her squeak as he pushed the curtain edge out of the way. "Well, that changes things."

She tilted her head back but it was impossible to see out the window to down below from that angle. She moved to turn over. He let up enough to give her space to do so, settling back down against her back once she had moved to her stomach.

"There are so many…" she murmured. "How'd they get here so fast?" There had been a steady stream of monsters since they arrived. It had started getting worse two days ago, but _now_? They must completely surround the house at this point.

She reached out to touch the wall and willed a couple more rounds of reinforcements into the barrier.

"There," he pointed. "He opened a portal out there." One of the monsters he unleashed must have fire properties since all of the snow had been melted to clear a path for everyone too.

"He's never done that before…" she said.

"He must be growing stronger," Clarke grumbled. "To open a portal at this distance? Assuming he's still in Mystic Falls. But why would he come all the way out here when he could just send the monsters." His eyes squinted and he realized there were two portals. "And more than one? Crap."

"Well, I _could_ just jump in one and _really_ tick him off," she mused.

"Let's not be hasty," he said quickly, happy to note the holes closing up. "He's already closed them."

She sighed. "So, now to deal with the army of monsters he let out."

"I'll get my guns," he shifted off her, rolling to his side of the bed.

She sat up. "He may have enough power to open a couple of portals wherever, but, I wonder…"

"What?" He grabbed his shoes to tug over his socks.

"Can he _really_ control _that_ many monsters all at once?"

"Does it matter?" he scoffed. "They all know they can't run away, that they have to complete their primary directive—to kill you."

"Oh, it _does_ matter," she said, grinning suddenly. "Do you have a quarter?"

"A what?"

* * *

Clearly kissing her had led her down the path to insanity.

"Hope, this is crazy," he said.

She opened a window that led out to a sloped area on the roof. "Just hand me the axe and machete once I get out there."

"You can't just jump down into the world's most dangerous mosh pit and survive!" He didn't like this at all.

Climbing through the window, she reached back expectantly.

"You better not die," he said, handing her the machete.

She took it and held her hand out again.

He handed over the axe but didn't let go once she grasped it.

She leaned back down through the window and kissed him. She pulled back with a grin, "I promise more of that later."

He let go of the axe. "Better keep that promise," he smirked despite his worry.

"Oh, I will," she said with a smirk of her own before she stood up straight and turned around to address the crowd below.

"Listen up!" she yelled out. "I know some of you want me dead. I know the rest don't want to kill me, but are being forced to. I also know that all of you _will_ die while trying to do so. So, I'll make a deal with you."

She held up her hand, holding the silver dollar Clarke had found in place of the quarter.

"Pick up the coin, and I'll let you live 'til tomorrow," she said before she tossed it off the roof to the ground below.

Some of them stood there, either as dumb as they appeared or just completely under Malivore's control, while the rest understood.

Those were the ones that went running for the coin, beating each other up to get to it first.

She tossed the axe down off the roof next, nodding when it landed in one of the monster's heads before she jumped down herself, swinging the machete at anything that got close enough for her to reach.

" _Expello!_ " she cried out at a group rushing her from the right. They were flung backwards, and she turned to the left, slicing the weapon down and up, every which way.

Feeling something approaching her from behind, she spun around, jabbing the machete at it while she kicked out backwards.

Hearing a few large cracks, she noticed some of the monsters around her hit the ground with a new hole in their skulls. _Ryan_.

She grinned before jumping back into the fray. A monster approached, breathing fire at her. She sent out a wave of magical wind, blowing the fire back into its face and into the face of all the creatures surrounding it. She turned her back on the howls of the burning creatures and went running off to the next batch.

She found her axe at one point, and sent it flying with her magic at a huge giant of a monster, slicing its head off even as she turned back to the other monsters to cut her way through them with the machete.

She was untouchable. No matter how hard the monsters tried, no matter how many came at her at once, nothing could get through to her. She was too focused and too powerful. Malivore would have to try a whole lot harder if he thought his creatures had any chance of hurting her.

When all was said and done, every single creature was dead—either by her hand, Ryan's gun, or a creature attacking another one to get to the coin.

Looking around, completely exhausted, she wondered where the coin had gone.

Seeing an enormous shadow on the ground before sensing a dark presence behind her, she spun around, readying to fight once more.

The largest wolf she had ever seen was standing there. She stepped back, preparing to fight.

It opened its mouth and the coin dropped down.

Stooping to pick it up, she nodded. "Tomorrow."

It turned and ran off.

She looked around. Spying her axe, she walked over to pick it up, holding it along with her machete. Seeing nothing else but piles of unmoving bodies, she walked to the front door.

He had the door opened before she could even reach for the knob.

"Show off," he said, but he was smiling that smirk of his. The one that said he was proud of her and amazed by her.

She sat down her weapons and pulled out a chair to collapse into. "Thank God he didn't send out another wave after I killed all of those. I wonder if he'll do the same thing tomorrow too?"

"It's doubtful," he said. "That last one, the wolf? With the coin?"

"Yeah, what kind of wolf was _that_?" Even she had given pause when she saw it. It was bigger than the Shunka.

"Fenrir," he supplied. "He's a child of Loki."

"Loki?" she squeaked. MG would love to hear about this.

"It is said that Fenrir consumed Odin at Ragnarok," he explained. "Odin's son was supposed to have killed Fenrir with a sword through his heart."

"Well, obviously Thor failed with that one," she said.

"This isn't the Avengers, Hope," he said. "This is Norse mythology. And Fenrir was very proud and never walked away from a challenge he knew he could win. The gods got one over on him by creating different fetters to imprison him, each more difficult to break free from than the previous. They made it a game, convinced him with the last one that if he couldn't break it, the gods had nothing to fear from him. He couldn't break it, but instead of releasing him as they said they would, they chained him to the land until Ragnarok."

"Can't walk away from a challenge he _thinks_ he can win, can he?" she replied. "I guess that's why he picked up the coin and wanted to wait 'til tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?"

"The night of the full moon," she replied…

"When my wolf powers are at their strongest."


	23. This Is A Battle Of Wolves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Hope had to smile.

After spending the majority of the day fighting with no breaks, Hope's first stop had been a shower. She was gross, covered in monster bits and blood, and there was no way she was going to kiss him like that. He started a late lunch for them while she was showering. Then he took _his_ shower since he had missed his usual one that morning with the arrival of Malivore's Fight Club.

Fresh from the shower and peering out a window, she had used her magic to unearth a giant hole in the yard and moved all the bodies into it. She opted to cover it back up with dirt instead of burning them. The smell would make eating impossible.

Since she was exhausted and just wanted to be comfortable, she had headed to the living room area, stoked the fire in the fireplace, and then relaxed on the couch to wait for him.

When he actually came in to pass off a plate to her with a sandwich and a mug filled with hot chocolate, she couldn't contain her smile.

"Thank you," she grinned. "You know, I could've gotten that."

He shrugged, "Relax. You probably killed half the monsters in the pit today," he exaggerated then went to get his own lunch

They had their agreement that he cooked while she cut firewood, except they had arrived to a mudroom full of the stuff. She wouldn't have to cut any until closer to the end of their stay. But everything else was shared. They both cleaned when needed and did laundry. She killed monsters, but then, so did he. He didn't have to do anything else, especially not _serve_ her lunch.

She hadn't planned on eating on the couch, but she was definitely okay with it. She picked up the mug and sat back, enjoying the warmth as she watched him.

He pulled the easy chair close to the coffee table. It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement, but he must've decided she needed to be comfortable and he wanted to join her.

"I thought we were out of sliced bread," she said, putting the cup down and picking up half of the chicken salad sandwich, grateful it wasn't another burger.

He kept the meals pretty basic. Breakfast was usually an omelet and toast, oatmeal, or cereal—or all of the above for him. They would probably run out of milk soon. For the rest, he mixed it up for the most part though his go-to was usually some kind of sandwich. _Especially_ burgers. He bought so many of those, she was sure they would never get through them before they left but he had already worked his way through half. He also bought a ton of hamburger rolls and froze most of those too, taking out what he needed at a time.

She would never complain about anything he made—she couldn't cook herself—but any time he handed her something that _wasn't_ a cheeseburger, she dug in with gusto.

At least she now knew his favorite food.

"I made some yesterday," he said around his bite of sandwich.

"You _made_ bread?" she asked, amazed.

"Had to learn to make it before novel things like pre-packaged bread was invented," he said, swallowing. "Had to learn a lot of things that have been made easier these days. A lot has changed, even since I came out of the pit eighteen years ago."

"So, what you're saying is you're older than sliced bread," she laughed. "Okay, Betty White."

He rolled his eyes at her.

"What year did you go into the pit before?"

"1953."

"Imagine that," she shook her head. "You get to live forever but you still miss out on the sixties, seventies, eighties, even the nineties. Probably the only reason _to_ live forever."

"You didn't live through them either, but you know all about them," he said. Honestly, when he came back he was glad for all the technological advancements. He hadn't cared about what he had 'missed' only that he was free again—or as free as he could hope to be.

"From history, yeah, but you went in right when it was getting good," she said. "You could've experienced it all."

"Living forever isn't all it's cracked up to be," he said, tossing the last of his first sandwich into his mouth.

"Is that why you went into the pit?" she asked. "Because you didn't want to live forever?"

"I didn't want to live forever like _that_ ," he said. "Disillusioned with everyone, and alone. _Clearly_ , I hadn't thought it through. The pit ended up being the most torturous kind of lonely." Of course, there wasn't any other option. He couldn't die. And even if he _could_ , he would just cease to exist. There wasn't any peace to be had for him.

She sat her sandwich down.

"Come here," she reached her hand out to him.

He grasped her hand and stood, moving toward her and sat on the couch near the end she indicated.

"Is this the part where you pity me?" he said a bit derisively. "Because I told you before, I don't want that."

"No," she brought her legs up and turned to face him. "This is the part where I say I'm glad you're still here. This way, we can be alone together."

He turned towards her with that adorable little smirk of his. "And is this the part where you kiss me?"

"Maybe…" she said with a teasing little smirk of her own.

"You _did_ promise…" he mentioned, eyes lowering to her lips.

"I did, didn't I?" she murmured, leaning toward him.

His lips met hers, and she fell against him, enjoying holding onto him as much as she enjoyed kissing him.

Mouth never leaving his, she shifted and twisted on the couch until she was sitting sideways on his lap, tugging at his shirt collar, insisting he come closer.

He resisted the tug, only so he could take her bottom lip between his and tug on that instead. She moaned and he let go to trace his tongue along her lip. She waited to see what he would do next and was rewarded when he slid his tongue into her mouth, seeking hers. She slid hers to meet his tentatively, shifting when the rub of his tongue against hers flared up that fire he always created in her.

She lost herself in him, forgetting everything else as he explored her mouth and then coaxed her to return the favor.

She finally came up for air, panting, and he slid his mouth to her neck. She tried to remember how to breathe as he found a patch of skin he decided he wanted to lick and bite at. She grabbed at his head when his mouth opened on that spot and he created this delicious suction that had her shifting on his lap again. "Ryan…"

She couldn't do anything but run her fingers through his hair. She didn't want him to stop, it felt too good.

Inevitably, he did, but he kissed his way back up to her mouth. Then he drew back and murmured, "I'm glad I'm still here too."

She pulled his head to hers, kissing him again and showing him exactly how glad _she_ was to hear that.

* * *

"I can't believe you were going to do it without telling me!" Josie exclaimed. Her sister tried to actually jump into Malivore! "And I had to wait two days to hear about it from MG and not  _you_ ? Or  _Dad_ ? What were you thinking!?"

"Well, it's not like you would remember?" Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, you've pretty much forgotten all about me anyway." She scoffed.

"Going to Mystic Falls High isn't _about_ you," Josie said, immediately going on the defensive. "It's about me! My magic!"

"Well, _this_ isn't about _you_ either," Lizzie griped.

"But you didn't even tell me! How could you be this selfish? I thought you were working on that!"

"Selfish? _Selfish_?" Lizzie exclaimed in disbelief. "I made a mistake. Hope and I made a mistake! And now this _thing_ has risen and it's killing people! If I don't do something, it'll only get worse, and Hope or Landon could die. I'm trying to fix it! That's about as far from _selfish_ as anyone can get."

"But jumping into the pit?" Josie asked. "Are you out of your mind?"

"You mean crazy?" Lizzie threw up her hands. "I'm pretty sure that's been well established."

"You know what I mean," Josie said.

"No," she shook her head. "No, I don't. At least I'm _trying_ to do something. What else can I do? Wait around for Hope to swoop in, save the day, and possibly die in the process? Or wait for her to kill Landon? Do you really want any of that to happen? Because I sure don't. Not this week anyway."

"She can handle it," Josie insisted. "Just let her."

"Even if it means she has to kill him?" Lizzie asked. "I'd think you'd at least care about him."

"He's Hope's problem now," Josie shrugged, hating that the bitterness was still present. She thought she was over it. She had tried to put her best foot forward before, to just be friends with Hope and Landon. She had done a good job of pretending until she was sent off into a prison world and had to face the darkness she had been hiding from. She thought the magic was the source of the darkness. Turns out, she just had a bitter jealous streak despite the magic. "He dumped me for her, remember?"

"Oh no," Lizzie wouldn't allow her to brush this off. "You cared about him enough to have sex with him, so don't give me that. _You care_."

Josie couldn't deny it, but that just made her bitterness even worse. She had been _that_ happy with Landon until Hope turned up again.

"Besides, he dumped her too, _remember_?" Lizzie said.

"Guess he didn't care about either of us much then," Josie shrugged. "She can do what she wants. Doesn't she already do that, no matter the consequences?"

She was referring to, of course, using Josie to recreate Clarke's body which, it turned out, recreated Malivore's too.

She was so angry at Hope. She had come back, destroyed Josie's happiness, insisted on being friends with her again, then used her before promptly forgetting about her. She hadn't heard from Hope at all since she left for parts unknown with Clarke. Hope only contacted Lizzie. What about Josie? Wasn't _she_ her friend too? Hope had certainly insisted they remain friends. And Josie had been friends with Hope long before Lizzie ever was. Not that Josie really even _wanted_ to hear from Hope after everything, but it would've been nice to know Hope still thought about her.

Her feelings about Hope were so convoluted. She was angry with her, but she was also jealous of the friendship she had with Lizzie.

She understood why Lizzie had tried to jump into Malivore. And she was right, it wasn't being selfish. Under better circumstances, she might even be proud of Lizzie for taking charge. But what would happen to Josie if she didn't remember Lizzie? Perhaps _she_ was the selfish one, but she really didn't want to lose her sister that way.

"I still can't believe you were going to do it without telling me," Josie grumbled. Her glare was less pronounced than earlier since her anger had redirected.

"I would've told you, but you're never here anymore," Lizzie said. "You have your new friends. Your new life. You don't have time for me."

"I'm sorry," Josie said. "Living without magic is hard. I had to go cold turkey. I can't have one foot in everything at the Salvatore school and one foot in Mystic Falls if I'm ever going to adjust. Maybe you can come along with me sometimes though? We're hanging at Maya and Ethan's tomorrow night? Join us?"

"Pass," Lizzie looked heavenward. "I don't need to be friends with your friends. I just need my sister. You know, my _best_ friend." Between Josie's new life and Hope on the run, MG was pretty much all she had left. She missed the dynamic of her whole team. Her support system had taken a hit.

"I'll do better," Josie said. "I promise. Just don't go jumping into memory stealing bottomless pits. Especially since I can't do the spell to return the memories anymore."

"Got any better ideas?" Lizzie asked hopefully.

"No, sorry," Josie said.

"That's what I figured," Lizzie sighed.

* * *

Hope's mountain lion painting was coming along.

She floated a slanted board in the air, using it as a makeshift easel as she added more color.

"I didn't think werewolves liked cats," he said, standing next to her, sipping his tea as he watched her.

"Why?" she said, feigning offense. "Because cats don't get along with dogs and you're referring to me as a _dog_?"

He shrugged. "You said it, I didn't."

She held up her paintbrush and pointed it at him. "Watch it."

"Are you going to fling paint at me again?" he asked.

"No," she said, turning back to her canvas. "I'm going to continue painting the cat."

"You know, the entire time I was in your subconscious, the only time I saw you paint was in your dreams," he remarked.

"I don't have a lot of time for it," she murmured, concentrating on getting a shadow just right. "But I do it when I can. And I love to go to galleries. See the world through other people's eyes."

"I've been many places, seen many works of art, but don't always connect with the artist," he said.

"Then they must not be that good," she said, dipping her brush in a bit more paint.

He laughed. "I've seen works that are revered to this day, but they still don't make me feel anything." He figured it was because he wasn't human and didn't understand how their feelings worked. Now that he knew more, maybe if he saw them again he would be able to see what escaped him before.

"My father has a landscape hanging in Russia," she said. "The Hermitage. I bet you'd feel something if you saw that."

Getting an idea, he asked, "Have _you_ seen it?"

"No," she said, smiling wistfully.

"Do you want to?"

"Yeah, someday," she said. "Hopefully I'll be able to go to Russia and see it."

He reached down and adjusted his ring so the dull green flared to glowing red.

Hope's mouth dropped open and she looked around in wonder.

The entire room changed from the cozy living room to a light and airy white and gold room with tall rounded columns of white marble supporting an open gallery.

"It's been a while since I was there," he said. "But this is what I remember from Pavilion Hall. The State Hermitage Museum has six buildings, but landscapes—or Westerns as they would be referred to as—would be housed in either of two galleries there."

"So… we just walk to look at the paintings, or...?" She knew this was only an illusion, so they couldn't walk around without hitting the furniture, right?

He held up his hand and swiped it to the side. The illusion flew by in front of them until a painting stopped before them. "I'll just do this until we find it."

She set her paintbrush down on what she thought was where the table was outside of the illusion, and then she backed up against him.

He wrapped an arm around her and pointed with his other one. "Is this it?"

"No," she looked for the signature. "But it's beautiful, isn't it?"

He nodded against her. It _was_ beautiful; it just didn't say anything else to him besides that.

He continued swiping as she talked, "You've been there."

"Once or twice," he shrugged. He didn't mention that it took at least a week to see everything, sometimes more. "They don't put their entire collection on display at all times, so if they didn't have it out when I was there, I wouldn't have seen it."

"You know, that's a really nifty ring you got there," she said as she shook her head at the next painting.

"Comes in handy," he said.

He kept swiping his hand, and she kept shaking her head, until they finally came to one that drew both of their attention before she could even try to look for the signature.

"This is it, isn't it," he asked, amazed because she was correct. He _did_ feel something.

She nodded, staring wide-eyed.

He could feel exactly what her father must've felt while painting it. His anger, his torment, his loneliness—the frustration of being on a dark and twisted path that led on, stretching forever, with no end and no hope in sight.

"Do you feel it?" she asked softly.

"Yes, yes, I do," he said, wrapping his other arm around her too and drawing her close.

She didn't say anything else, just leaned back against him while they both took in the painting. It was possible he hadn't remembered all of it correctly but given that he didn't have a problem recalling much of anything, he knew it was at least on the right track.

"One day I'll take you to see it in person," he promised, knowing he was taking liberties but he didn't care. He was confident he was going to be with her in the long run, and she needed to know he wasn't going to back down. He was going to fight for her until she chose him. It was that simple. "In case my memory isn't foolproof."

"I'd like that," she murmured.

Amazed to feel a jump in his chest, he gripped her tighter and bent down to kiss her near her ear since that was the first place he reached. She was a lot shorter than him.

She giggled, grasped his arms and looked sideways back at him.

"Ready for bed?" she asked.

"Always," he smirked.

She shook her head but laughed as she elbowed him gently.

"Let's go."

Upstairs, she got ready for bed as she did every night while he reminded himself—not for the first time that day—that he had to be careful to let her lead. He knew she wasn't ready for anything more than they had already done, he wasn't an idiot. She had only _just_ kissed him. If she had gone eighteen years and was still a virgin, she didn't take it lightly. If he tried for more now, he would probably end up scaring her which was the last thing he wanted to do.

She left the bathroom and turned the light off before climbing in next to him and immediately seeking him out.

"Thank you for tonight," she said, resting her head against his chest with a yawn. "Say what you want about mud men, but mine is a romantic."

There she went again, saying things that made his chest jump and got him feeling hopeful. Was she doing it on purpose? Was she telling him he was already on the way to winning her over completely? And if so, why couldn't she just _say_ that so he could stop worrying? Or was this her being indecisive again?

"Yours?" he asked.

She glanced up at him. "Mine." She gave him a quick kiss then lay her head back down against him.

"Goodnight," she murmured.

"Goodnight," he murmured back, only mildly disappointed she didn't say or do more.

Given how quickly she fell asleep though, he knew she was just exhausted. She had taken it easy—except for the promised time on the couch—all day after fighting that morning, but she hadn't slept at all.

Hopefully she slept late tomorrow. She was going to need all the rest she could get for what was coming later.

Of all the creatures she had faced—and she had faced over a hundred of them at once today—this was the first one that had him truly worried.

* * *

The next day, she came downstairs to find him sitting at a table with a toolbox he found on site somewhere, cleaning a hammer.

"What's that for?" she asked, sitting next to him. She was taking it easy that morning at his insistence.

"Tonight," he answered with a smile, remembering their kisses that morning. He wanted her to go back to sleep, and she wanted to get up despite still being tired, so he kissed her until she gave up. She went back to sleep cuddled up against him.

"You think the way to kill Fenrir is with a hammer?" she asked. "I thought you said this wasn't Avengers."

"It's not for Fenrir," he said. "It's for what comes after." He nodded at the toolbox. "I can probably use one of the screwdrivers as a chisel."

"Why do you need a hammer and chisel?" she asked, perplexed.

"Assuming you'll survive—because you will. You have to," he looked up at her. "We need to bury Fenrir properly."

"Why? We've never cared about that before."

"This is the son of a god, and we don't want to anger the Norse gods," he explained. "We'll bury him properly."

"But we killed the son of a god before—Pegasus," she said.

"We were so busy trying to get away that we didn't think about it," he said. " _I_ didn't think about it. But if these creatures really do exist, then so do the gods. There may still be consequences for Pegasus."

"The boys back home killed the son of a god too," she pointed out. "Seems easy enough."

"Pegasus wasn't a warrior, which is why it was easy. And, _no_ , they didn't. They got lucky." he said. "Hercules walked in front of a poisoned arrow to protect Malivore. My father was responsible for that one. Technically, he's responsible for them all since he's controlling them, but we're not taking any chances."

"Okay, so we're going to…?"

"Odin made it law that all dead warriors of consequence would be burned, their belongings laid with them, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth," he described. "We don't have an option here—he's being buried, beneath a raised mound. And then a standing stone should be placed atop the mound. That's what the hammer and chisel are for. The stone needs to be carved. I just have to find a soft enough stone for it."

"I guess then we should talk about how I'm going to kill him?" she said.

"At the battle of Ragnarok, he swallowed the god, Odin, and then Odin's son—Vidarr—was supposed to have grasped Fenrir's upper jaw and planted his foot in his lower jaw thereby tearing apart his mouth. I was reading up on it and some accounts say _that_ alone was enough to kill him, while others say a sword through the heart after was also required."

"So I just need to get between his jowls and tear his face apart," she winced. "Got it."

He looked up at that. " _No_. You aren't getting near his mouth. Just use magic to do it."

She shook her head. "I can't do magic in wolf form. You know that."

"You aren't taking wolf form to do it," he said.

"I have to," she argued.

"Who said?" He put the hammer down, not liking where this was going.

"It was understood that he chose to fight me tonight _because_ of the full moon," she said. "This is a battle of wolves. If you're worried about honoring the gods, then you should understand why I have to fight him as a wolf. He may not think it, but he's to die tonight. I'll let him die with dignity."

He shook his head. "It's too dangerous. He _swallowed_ Odin. A _god_! He's too big for you to get near his mouth without suffering the same fate."

"But Odin's son killed him," she pointed out. "Supposedly."

"Yes, the son of a _god_ ," he argued. "You're not the son of a god, Hope!"

"No," she said firmly. "I'm the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson, the original hybrid, and Hayley Marshall, alpha of the Crescent wolf pack. Perhaps its time the gods learn what that means."

"Your arrogance will get you killed," he said. "You're not dying. Not on my watch." Not _ever_.

"Even if I die, I'll just activate my vampire side, okay? I'll be fine," she said. "Besides, you won't be there." She stood up.

"What?" he stood up right along with her.

"It's not going to be a fight out in the clearing," she said. "Wolves can't be confined, Ryan. We'll be too far out for you to follow. Besides, I'd rather you stay here so I don't have to worry about you."

"I can't die!"

"No, but if he can swallow a god, I'm sure he'd have no problem swallowing you," she said. "You're staying here."

He glared at her before he turned on his heel and stalked away.

"Where are you going?" she called after him.

"To find a stone," he said, going to the back door and pulling on his coat. "And I better be carving it for him, _not_ you." He knew it was pointless to keep arguing with her. She was too stubborn. In the time he had known her, she only gave into his pleading once. He would go find a stone and try to convince her again later.

"Use the ring!" she reminded him before he went outside and got besieged by anything. He needed to remain invisible.

He used it and slammed the door on the way out.

She sat with a sigh. She knew he didn't want anything to happen to her, but she knew she could do this.

Besides, she had made a deal. She would see it through.

* * *

Ethan was having the strangest week.

He had spent days smelling something foul at home before he finally hunted down a bowl Maya had left under her bed in her messy room that was growing fur on it. Mold. _Yuck_.

She just laughed and made some comment about him finding her science experiment before she threw out the bowl.

She didn't comment on the fact that he never should've smelled it, especially since _she_ hadn't smelled it. No one else had smelled it, but it hit him in the face every time he walked in the house.

Then there was his arm.

He and his mom went for his orthopedic appointment, fairly certain they were going to be scheduling the surgery to re-break his arm. Instead, when they removed the cast, his arm was completely healed. It felt good as new. The doctor claimed it was a miracle.

Ethan didn't buy it. He didn't believe in miracles.

But he couldn't understand it either.

The doctor had remarked that his temperature was pretty high though he didn't have any other symptoms. That garnered him a few days at home, his mother insisting he needed to rest since his temperature was so high. He felt fine though, just a little hot.

He finally put his foot down so he could return to school for wrestling tryouts since his arm was healed.

 _That_ had gone even worse.

Not that he hadn't pinned his opponent, he just did it a little too well. He hurt him without meaning to. He really wished Jed had decided to tryout too. He never had any problems sparing with Jed. If he had been going up against him, nothing bad would've happened.

He knew he made the team—he somehow heard the coach from across the room—but the assistant coach suggested they had accidentally put him in the wrong weight class. He knew he was in the right one. Maybe being held back by his arm had given him all this pent up energy that came bursting out now that it was healed?

He was looking forward to tonight because everyone was coming to hang out, which meant Jed. He planned to mention everything happening to his friend and see if he thought anything was wrong. He hadn't seen him much this week since he had been forced to stay home sick.

Hearing the doorbell ring, he hollered, "I got it!"

Opening the door, he saw Josie and Jade…but no Jed.

"Come on in," he said. "Jed isn't coming?"

Jade shook her head, glad for the instant invitation, and smirked as she passed Ethan. "It's his time of the month."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Right."

Josie just shrugged as she walked by him.

"Maya's downstairs setting up for the movie, if you want to head down," he said. "I'll be down with popcorn and drinks in a sec."

"Need any help?" Josie asked, as Jade bee-lined for the open door he indicated to the basement.

"Sure," he said, pleased that he would at least get some alone time with Josie.

Of course, when he walked into the kitchen he realized they weren't going to be quite as alone as he hoped.

"Oh, right," he looked back at Josie. "This is a friend of my mom's. Seylah."

Seylah looked up from where she was rolling out some dough.

"Seylah, this is my friend Josie," he said, making the introduction.

"Josie Saltzman," Josie added for the woman's benefit, knowing exactly who this person was. Her father had mentioned the sheriff wanted to keep the supernatural world from her kids for now. She wondered how long it would be before she let them know the woman living in their guest room was actually their aunt, and they had a cousin who was currently being inhabited by his father. _Yeah_ , she kind of understood why she would balk at explaining that to her human children.

"I know your father," Seylah nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"You know Principal Saltzman?" Ethan asked, surprised. "I mean, he's not principal anymore, but he was pretty cool."

"Yes," Seylah nodded. She turned to the oven and put on a mitt. "I just made some chocolate chip cookies. Would you and your friends like some?"

"Sure," Josie answered for Ethan. She hadn't had fresh baked cookies that _she_ hadn't made in forever.

Ethan nodded, "What she said."

He pulled a bottle of juice out of the fridge and some cups out of a cabinet. "Want to pop this?" He handed a couple bags of microwave popcorn to Josie.

"I'll do it while she's letting the cookies cool," Josie said.

He nodded and paused. He meant to hang with her while it was popping, but since Seylah was there, he guessed he should go on down for now.

"I'll be back," he said.

Josie nodded but paid him no mind as she turned back to Seylah who put a cookie on a napkin and handed it across to her.

Taking a bite, Josie moaned. "This is so good. My mom used to make these all the time."

"She doesn't anymore?" Seylah asked as she placed the rest on a cooling rack. She intended to make a homemade apple pie next with the dough she was rolling out. She loved to bake, and she stress baked. She had a lot on her mind since her return from the pit. She would speak with Alaric soon now that she had acclimated to missing another year of life and made some decisions.

"Mom's been…away," Josie explained. "My sister and I see her when we can, but she's working on this project and can't be home like she used to."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Seylah said. "I'm sure she loves you both very much."

"She does," Josie nodded. She knew how much her mother loved her, that she was trying to find a way to prevent the merge. The kicker was, if her mother never found a way to stop it then they were wasting all this time apart for nothing. It just meant less time to spend together before she and Lizzie turned twenty-two and had to merge.

Seylah picked up one of the popcorn bags and took off the cellophane.

"I can do that," Josie insisted, reaching for it.

"Enjoy your cookie," Seylah insisted with a small smile while walking to the microwave.

"You know, you would've made a great mom to him," Josie said. "I know I don't really know you, and it doesn't change anything, but you seem nice and…" she shrugged. "I just wanted to say it." She had also jumped into Malivore to erase all memories of herself to protect Landon. That wasn't the action of a bad or uncaring mother.

"You know my son?" Seylah asked. "Of course you do. Same school."

"And we dated," Josie said then shifted awkwardly.

"Ah," Seylah nodded. "I see. What happened?"

"He broke my heart," Josie said.

"Not very nice of him," Seylah said.

"He…didn't want to," Josie rushed to excuse him in direct opposition of the bitterness she had been wallowing in just yesterday. "His heart just belonged to someone else."

Seylah nodded. She could read between the lines. When last they met, her son had been head over heels for his girlfriend, Hope. She didn't see him wanting to let that girl go. This girl's twin had said he broke up with Hope, but she knew that must've been a mistake. Landon would try to fix it if he were still alive and they could get him away from his father's clutches.

A loud yapping at the door to the basement startled them.

Ethan was trying to come up the stairs but the little Yorkshire Terrier kept barking and snarling at him.

"Priscilla! Down!" Seylah commanded.

The dog barked a few more times before running to her master but made sure to keep an eye on Ethan.

"She's never done that before," Ethan said, looking down at the dog, feeling his anger rising. One more strange thing in the week of strange.

His mother had come home with the dog last year. They called it Penny because of the 'P' on its collar. Turned out the dog belonged to his mother's friend and her name was actually Priscilla.

Why didn't his mother know the dog's name when she took it in if it belonged to her friend? Sometimes he thought his mother was hiding things from them. Other times he remembered she was sheriff and _had_ to keep certain things from them.

Seylah handed him the plate of cookies. "You two go ahead. I'll bring down the popcorn when it's ready."

But as soon as Ethan walked toward the basement door, Priscilla started barking again. She came over and growled at Ethan, trying to take a bite out of his ankle.

Frustrated, he put the plate back on the counter and resisted the urge to growl back at her.

"You know, maybe this was a bad idea anyway," Ethan said, pulling at his shirt collar. When he had gone back downstairs, he felt confined. The room was big but the ceiling was low. He felt like everything was closing in on him. "Want to go for a drive?"

Josie hesitated. The only reason her father had agreed to let them come over on the night of a full moon was because they would be inside.

"What's happening up here?" Maya said as she came through the basement door with Jade close behind her. "What's Priscilla barking at?"

"Want to go for a drive?" Ethan asked, ignoring her question.

"What about the movie?" Josie asked, catching Jade's eye pointedly.

"I think that sounds like a great idea," Jade said, grinning despite Josie's reluctance.

"Ooh, yeah," Maya said. "I've heard there's a place near the park that's perfect for star gazing! We should totally go!"

"Sounds perfect," Jade said.

"Great," Ethan said. "I'll drive."

Josie wanted to tell them it wasn't a good idea, but she had been railroaded. Besides, they would stay in the truck, and it wasn't like they would be in the middle of the woods. The park was close enough to other more populated areas. It should be okay.

Hopefully.

* * *

He couldn't convince her to change her mind.

The time was drawing near, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

"I'm gonna go out through the garage," she said. "Just wait for my howl then close the door from the inside doorway." She would strip and change in there. There was more space to change than inside the house.

"Hope…"

She came over to him. "I'm going to be okay."

"How am I supposed to know when it's over?" he asked. "Or who won?" Was he supposed to wait 'til morning to go out only to find her dead? And what if the wolf swallowed her? He would never be able to find her body. He would never know what happened to her.

She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him, resting her head against his chest. 

"Watch for me in the clearing. I'll be back. I promise. Just let me in."

"I hate this plan," he said, but he put his arms around her too.

"It'll be over before you know it," she insisted.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

She pulled back and reached up, dragging his head down towards her as she stood on tiptoe, and kissed him.

They just had their first kiss two days ago. _Was this going to be their last one already?_ he wondered. He resolved to make it good, maybe even so much that she wouldn't go. She would stay until this night was over and then Fenrir would just have to fight her in her tribrid form or wait 'til the next full moon. Or not bother at all.

He moved forward while kissing her, urging her backwards until she rested against the wall. He bent to pick her up at the waist, bringing her mouth up closer to his.

She had to wrap her legs loosely around his waist or she would slide back down, and she didn't want to since she could reach his mouth so much easier this way.

He slid his tongue into her mouth, remembering how she reacted yesterday when he rubbed against hers. He wasn't disappointed when she whimpered and jerked up against him. He didn't let up, just changed angles and plundered her mouth as much as possible, hoping she would forget she had anywhere else to be.

It didn't work.

She pulled away from him and tried to get his attention, "Ryan."

He wasn't giving up yet, just moved his mouth to her neck.

"Ryan…" she said softly, moving her hands up to his shoulders and shifting to drop her feet back down to the floor. "I have to go."

He sighed and pulled away.

She gave him a small smile then went through the door into the garage.

Grateful she didn't say goodbye, he rested his forehead against the closed door, eyes closed, and waited for the telltale howl.

When he finally heard it, he opened the door and reached for the switch. He saw her before he touched it, standing and watching him with her coat of white fur gleaming in the moonlight.

He nodded and she turned and ran, letting out a loud howl, one that screamed for all other wolves to stand up and take notice.

Or, for at least one very big, very scary son-of-a-god wolf to.

* * *

Sprinting through the snow covered forest in search of her prey, Hope's senses were on high alert. She listened for the barest hint of movement and sniffed the air in search of his scent.

She came to a halt in the middle of a snowdrift, ignoring the sinking of her paws as she listened, hair standing on end. Something was out there. Close by. It had to be him.

Sensing movement from behind, she pounced forward to get away and tried to turn around before it attacked her. There was no time to turn though, as he was on her and above her, growling down at her with his fiercely pointy fangs. She drew away beneath him even as he snapped at her, trying to clench her in his jaw. He stood so tall that she could easily fit between his legs which is how she escaped, jumping up to bite at his underbelly as she did so.

Howling out, he sprang to the side but lashed out with his back paws, kicking her so hard she was flung a few yards, landing hard with a whimper against a tree trunk.

Giving herself no time to recover, she pounced back up and made a run for the trees. She wasn't sure if he was following her, she hoped not, as she jumped up into a tree with low hanging branches, using them to spring further and further up. She needed a new vantage point and a new form of attack.

Using her keen eye, she searched below for any sign of the monstrous body. It wasn't like he could hide for long out here. But he was so dark and he would sink into the shadows so well, she might miss him if she didn't pay enough attention.

Sighting what looked to be him in the distance, she jumped across from one tree to another, burrowing her claws in to hold on tight with each pounce.

Confirming it _was_ him, quietly as possible she jumped down from her perch onto his back, slashing her nails at his flesh.

He tried to buck her off, but she dug her claws in, inflicting as much pain as possible for as long as she could. He finally rolled over with her on his back, and that hurt more than the tree trunk as he smashed her into the ground. Even when he rolled onto his back and trapped her, he didn't let up, just kept slamming himself back against her until she finally managed to twist out from under him.

Crying out, she scrambled to get away as he started snapping at her again, nearly biting her once, but she clawed at his face to push him away.

She took off again. She hated running from a fight, but she needed to regroup. This was turning out to be harder than she thought it would be.

She _had_ to get to his mouth somehow, but how could she have a prayer of getting it to stay open?

As she ran, she realized it didn't matter that she wanted to regroup. He was already following her, chasing her through the woods. Perhaps he was as impatient to end this as she was. She looked around for another means of escape, knowing that going for the tress wouldn't work again, not if he knew she was up there.

Finally she just came to a stop and turned around, racing back toward him. Ignoring his ferocious leer, she faked right then went left instead, jumping up to claw at his right flank as he slid by her. She could hear him howl in anger, but she jumped for a snow drift before he could turn around.

Fortunately the snow was light and fluffy so she could easily move through it. Also fortunately, her coat was white so it blended in. Unfortunately, he could still smell her scent and that was what he did, followed her scent through the snow, using his claws to slash through the wetness.

She scampered through, over debris and branches, until she reached the end of a drift and popped out, hoping he would miss seeing her exit.

He didn't.

He, and his huge wolf body, pounced across the way to her in seconds. She clawed at him, but it didn't matter, he started snapping at her again and she was pinned. She twisted and pushed and snapped back at him too. She wiggled her way most of the way free but not before he managed to bite her in her right flank.

Howling out her pain, she slashed at his snout, making him let her go to back away.

He didn't back away because she had hurt him though.

He backed away so he could regard her injury as a major victory in the battle. He backed away to growl at her with his vicious fangs dripping with saliva and her blood.

He backed away to prepare for the death blow.

She couldn't let him swallow her. She had to win. She promised Ryan. She had to get back to him. She couldn't let Fenrir win. She couldn't let _Malivore_ win.

Looking around, she started digging, searching the snow for something large she had felt when she had been trying to get away.

He ignored her ministrations, almost laughing if a wolf could, readying to pounce.

As he did so, landing right near her, but she found what she was looking for and wrapped her four legs around the giant fallen branch, rolling over with it.

His mouth had been poised wide open to bite down, so when he landed he tried to pull back noting her movement, but he landed with too much force. She was basically in his mouth now, so she arched her entire body, bouncing her back off of the ground, jabbing the branch and herself inside.

He couldn't swallow her, not with the branch poking and in the way, and he couldn't bite her because he couldn't get his mouth to close. He tried to push her out with his giant slobbering tongue but she bit that, drawing blood.

He flung his head up, trying to dislodge her, but she knew this was probably the only chance she would get.

She let go of the branch with her front legs and reached her paws up to the roof of his mouth, digging her claws in and pushing with all her might.

He howled again, flinging his head, then tried to use his paws to reach her and pull her out.

She let go of the branch with her back paws before he could get a hold of her, and dug down into the bottom of his mouth, digging her rear claws in.

And then she pushed with all of her might against the roof and lower jaw of his mouth.

Ignoring the pain in her flank that she knew was losing too much blood, she fought through everything and focused on drawing on all of her strength, the strength that was ten folds stronger because of the power of the full moon and finally, _finally_ , she heard a crack.

She kept pushing through, still feeling resistance, knowing it wasn't over yet, and then she heard another one. And another. She kept pushing.

Suddenly the resistance was gone and Fenrir collapased.

Scared to move at first, she waited, trying to hear any sound above the racing of her own heart.

He was still and lifeless.

His mouth had been torn apart, so it wasn't difficult for her to climb out of it.

She limped to her feet, staring down at the wolf, amazed that _she_ was the one left standing. Also glad she didn't need to put a sword through his heart—she hadn't quite figured out how to do that as a wolf without opposable thumbs.

For all that she had reassured Ryan, even she had to admit to herself this could've gone either way. In fact, there was a moment there she was sure she was done for.

But it was over now.

Now, she could go home.

She just had to walk there first.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Josie asked.

Ethan shrugged. "I'm fine."

He had driven them to the park area, and it _was_ nice. He definitely liked being outside more than he did being cooped up in the basement. But he was restless.

The girls laid a couple blankets down in the bed of his truck and were all lying down, gazing up at the stars. He had tried to join them, but he couldn't stay still.

He was prowling around the truck, once again trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

Josie sat up and looked at him over the side of the truck bed, seeing how fidgety he seemed.

"We can just go home if you're not having any fun," Josie offered.

"I said I'm fine!" Ethan snapped at her.

Josie recoiled. "Okay…just trying to help."

Ethan swore to himself. He hadn't meant to say that. He just felt so agitated and irritable. Maybe he _should_ go home, but then he would be inside again and he didn't want that.

"Look, I'm sor— _ry!_ " He ended with clenched teeth as he was suddenly hit with an overwhelming pain. He clenched his fists and bent over, his entire body feeling it.

"Ethan, what's wrong?" Josie said.

"Ethan?" Maya said, quickly sitting up, having heard his cry too.

"I don't know what's—" He cut off as another pain sliced through his insides, one he felt all the way to his bones. He cried out. " _—what's wrong!_ I don't know what's wrong!"

All three girls were on their feet, scrambling to get to him as he collapsed to the ground.

"Someone grab a phone!" Maya told them, being the first to reach her brother. "Call 9-1-1 or my mom! Or both!"

Josie climbed back into the truck to search for her phone.

Jade and Maya were trying to search for any injuries.

"Where does it hurt?" Jade asked. She had been training to be a medic before, so she would try to use her knowledge to help now.

"Every where!" Ethan cried out, his face a mess of pain as he tried to get back up but only made it to his knees.

"When did it start?" Jade asked.

"Two seconds ago!" Ethan said, reaching down to clench his fist into the grass at his feet.

Josie found her phone but looked over at him once more before dialing.

Seeing his eyes glow slightly, she realized three things in the span of a heartbeat.

One, Ethan was a werewolf and this was his first full moon. Two, the only death that could have triggered his curse since the last full moon was Dennis'. And three, she needed to call her dad, _not_ an ambulance.

Oh, and number four? No wonder Jade's blood hadn't healed him.

Turning away from the other girls, lest Maya overheard, she quickly called her father.

"Dad! I need you!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's Ethan. He's a wolf! He just started his change. I don't think he had any idea!"

"I'll be to the house in ten minutes," he said.

"We're at the park!"

"Just stay put 'til I get there," he said. "And keep Jade away from him."

He hung up as she realized the danger.

Turning back to them she called out, "Help is on the way! And, Jade!"

Jade looked at her.

"Get away from him," she whispered so Maya couldn't hear.

She nodded and tried to get to her feet, but Ethan's body took that opportunity to break grotesquely at his ankle.

Maya screamed as loud as Ethan, and started begging Jade to help.

Jade, not knowing what else to do, held onto Ethan and Maya who were both grasping for her.

Josie would have to take her place, if only so Jade would be safe. Josie climbed down from the truck and hurried over but, as luck would have it, Ethan's fangs had started coming in already and he bit Jade's hand. The wolf's natural enemy was the vampire, so even in his beginning stages of change he sensed her and took action.

"Oh my God," Jade said, pulling away, flinging her hand back and forth like that would make it go away. "Oh my God, Oh my God."

"Jade, just go to the truck and sit down. My dad is coming. Just _stay calm_ and I'll handle this," Josie said, grasping Jade's good hand and pulling her away.

"He bit her?!" Maya cried out in disbelief. "What the hell is going on? What's happening to him?" She gripped hold of her brother's shoulders, trying to hug him even as he screamed as more bones started breaking.

Seeing that Jade had climbed into the front of the truck, Josie turned back to Ethan and knelt in front of him.

"I know this will be hard to understand, but you're turning into a wolf," she said as gently as possible.

"A _what_?" Maya yelled.

Josie turned and hushed her. "Ethan needs to hear this. Save your questions for later."

Ethan cried out as more bones broke, so Josie sent Maya away. "Get one of the blankets out of the truck. I'm going to try to make him more comfortable."

Turning back to Ethan, she searched her mind for ways to help him. She remembered Hope talking about her first change. It was knowledge that students at the school didn't need because they had already gone through their first transformations at that point. But Josie remembered it.

"Don't fight it," she said. "It's gonna hurt. Every single bone in your body is breaking and reforming. It's going to happen no matter how much you fight it. But it will take _hours_ if you fight it. Ethan, just let it happen."

He shook his head, crying out again. "I can't!"

"Here," Maya brought her the blanket.

Josie took it and placed it on the ground next to her.

"Take off his shoes and socks," she instructed Maya. "I'm going to take off his shirt. It'll only make it more difficult for him to change if something is blocking the bones."

It was nearly impossible to do it with him cringing and screaming every other second, but somehow they managed.

 _The pants would just have to stay_ , Josie thought as she wrapped the blanket around his shoulders.

"Why isn't it stopping?" Maya asked, tears streaming down her face. "You said he's changing? Why hasn't he?"

"Because he keeps fighting it," Josie said. "Ethan, _please_ stop. Just let it happen."

"E, please," Maya said, begging too. "I'm right here. I've got you. Just do what she says."

Ethan tried, he really did try, but it hurt too much. He shook his head.

"Try again," Josie insisted.

He lunged forward suddenly and snapped at them, tired of them insisting he do something he didn't want to. He didn't hurt the girls, but they jumped back. Maya was fine, but Josie ended up scraping her palms on some gravel in the path.

"Damn it," she mumbled, looking at the blood on her hands.

Then she froze. She looked up toward the truck. She was right to be worried.

Jade had climbed out of the truck and was standing with the door open, staring at Josie. The veins in her face were starting to appear, pumping furiously.

"Jade," Josie said, closing her palms and holding her hands away from her vision. "Get back into the truck." This was going to be a problem. Jade had been doing great at keeping her ripper tendencies in check, but a werewolf bite caused uncontrollable hunger and delusions. If her father didn't arrive soon, this was going to get messy.

She _would_ just siphon the venom from the bite, but she couldn't siphon. She was powerless right now.

Jade was about to go ripper on them and Ethan was turning into a werewolf, and the only person there who _could_ 've helped had given up her magic.

"Maya," Josie said out the side of her mouth. "When I say run, I'm going to need you to run, okay?"

"I'm not leaving my brother," Maya insisted.

Josie closed her eyes. This was impossible. Even if Maya ran, there was no way they were going to be able to get away from Jade when she lost it.

Ethan looked back and forth between Maya and Josie, trying to follow everything despite the pain. "What's…," he cried out, "…going on?" He cried out again.

"So, there aren't just wolves," Josie said quickly. "There are also vampires."

At this point, Ethan would believe just about anything, he just didn't know why she was telling him. "Okay?" He cried out as his arm—the one that had just healed—began to crack.

Josie kept looking back at Jade, seeing her face getting even worse. Jade was _trying_ to hold herself back, she could tell, but it was only a matter of time.

"Ohh," Maya said, seeing what Josie was looking at. "No way! No _friggin_ way am I dating a vampire!"

Jade could see the disgust and horror on Maya's face, and she lost focus on holding herself back enough that she couldn't do it anymore.

"Ethan," Josie said as she stood and backed away from Jade, pulling Maya back along with her. "If you were ever going to stop fighting the change, _now_ would be the time."

She looked around. She didn't have any weapons at all. The only thing that could stop Jade at this point was a pointy wooden stake which was the _last_ thing she wanted to use. _Where is my dad!?_

Jade advanced on them, and Maya cringed even as Josie grabbed her arm and tried to run for it. They needed to circle around back to the truck and get out of there. They started running even though Josie knew Jade would be on them any minute, it was just a matter of who she was going to grab first.

But then she heard growling behind her and Jade didn't grab either of them.

She looked over her shoulder and stopped. "Maya."

Maya, crying hysterically now, didn't want to stop, but she followed Josie's lead.

"Is that…" Maya gasped.

Ethan had completed his transformation and was growling at Jade, holding her off, his auburn coat standing on end as he prepared to attack.

"He did it," Josie said, breathing with relief. Jade wouldn't kill her or Maya.

Except now there was a very large chance Ethan would kill Jade.

"Jade!" Josie cried out. "Run!"

The vampire weighed her options, the fear greater than the need for blood, and Jade's personality took over, tearing herself from the wolf bite delusion long enough to put the ripper away, controlled once more.

Jade knew the only option she had was the one Josie had given her. In human form, Ethan wouldn't attack her, but as a wolf—he had no control over which vampire he attacked.

Josie watched Jade take off, with Ethan chasing her, his speed nearly as fast as hers.

Headlights finally appeared and her father and Kaleb got out.

"Dad!" she shouted. "He bit Jade! He changed already! He's chasing her! You have to stop him!"

"He changed _already_?" Alaric asked, tossing the tranquilizer gun to Kaleb who nodded and sped off immediately to track the other two down. "That was fast."

Maya was shaking uncontrollably. "What is going on? Why are there werewolves and vampires? Oh my God, there are vampires and werewolves! And my brother is one of them!"

Alaric nodded at her and said to Josie, "Can you take her to the Salvatore school?"

Josie nodded. She would drive Ethan's truck. She didn't drive much, but she had gotten her license as soon as she was able.

"What are you going to do?" Josie asked, scared for her friends.

"We're going to track them down and bring them back to the school too," he said. "We'll meet you there. Are you okay?"

"I'm good," she said. "Thanks, dad."

"Anytime, sweetheart."

* * *

It was unnerving, waiting for Hope to appear.

He peered out the window, searching for any sign of movement. He had the large spotlights turned on, the ones that covered the area all around the house up to the woods.

He didn't know what he would do if she didn't survive, but he wasn't going to entertain the possibility. They had come too far for her to die now. He didn't understand why this fight was so important to her to be fought this way. There had to be some reason for it.

As long as that reason meant she survived, he didn't really care.

The hours ticked by slowly. When the second hour was drawing to a close, he had to curse his father for doing this to her, to him. This shouldn't take this long. If she hadn't returned by now, did that mean…

 _No._ Not entertaining that possibility.

He would just wait patiently and she would come. She promised. She kept her promises.

And then, he _finally_ saw movement.

It was her; he would recognize that coat of fur anywhere.

She was moving incredibly slowly, but she was making her way back.

 _Alive_.

He opened the door and waited, his frown becoming more pronounced as he realized she was moving so slowly because she was limping.

She came inside and he closed the door.

Catching sight of her right flank, he winced and immediately started grabbing for the first aid kit.

He moved into the living room and pulled the downthrow off the back of the couch. 

"I'll get your clothes and a towel for that. Go ahead and change back. Use this to cover up 'til I get back," he said indicating the blanket.

Heading to the garage, he grabbed the clothes she left there and pulled a towel out of the hall closet on the first floor.

Coming back into the living room area, he found that she was still a wolf. She was pacing slowly back and forth in front of the fireplace.

"Why haven't you changed back? And why haven't you healed yet?" He walked over, setting her clothes on the couch and bringing the towel over to wrap around her and apply pressure.

She couldn't reply of course, just settled forward on her haunches, letting him take care of the wound though she hissed while he tried to clean it up and bandage it with the supplies he had.

"Hope, you can change back anytime you want," he said again. "I'll turn around."

She whimpered and shook her head before settling back down again.

 _She can't_ , he realized. In order to change back, she would have to break every bone in her body. She was in too much pain from the wound to change back yet.

"Okay, so you can't change back because it hurts too much. Just heal it," he insisted. "If you can heal a mountain lion, you can heal yourself…"

But she couldn't do _that_ either. He sighed, "You can't do magic in wolf form. Crap."

He knew she had super healing abilities due to her wolf powers, so it _would_ heal eventually. It must've been one hell of an injury if it was taking this long though.

Making her comfortable for now was the only thing he _could_ do.

Standing, he pushed the coffee table out of the way and grabbed the blanket off the couch. He spread it out on the floor, and then went to the hall closet to retrieve more towels and a couple more blankets.

Settling down on the floor with his back against the couch, he made a pallet of the towels for her to lie on if she started bleeding again. He motioned for her to come over and she did, settling down with her snout on his knee, looking up at him. He hated seeing the pain in her eyes.

He pulled one of the blankets over top of her, and then stroked her head until she fell asleep, still whimpering every once in a while even in her sleep.

Hours later, he felt her stir. The blanket was still on top of her, so she only glanced toward him before she changed back, gasping at the pain. She clutched the blanket to her.

"I'll get more bandages to redress the wound while you get dressed," he said, shifting to stand.

She shook her head. "It's closed up. Everything just really hurts."

"Do you want to go up to bed?"

She shook her head. "I'm okay here for now." She didn't want to move. She figured the bruises would all be healed in a few more hours, but for now the thought of moving hurt.

Keeping the blanket closed around her, she pushed the towels out of the way and motioned for him to join her. "Lay next to me?"

He shifted around so he could lie down next to her, pulling another blanket up over top of both of them, wondering if he should get her a pillow too.

She didn't need a pillow, not when she had him. She laid her head against his chest like always and settled in to go back to sleep.

Later that day, they set out on their invisible trek through the wilderness to locate the body of the fallen wolf.

She cleared a path of snow near a nice spot by the trees, and then used her magic to dig a giant grave. Moving the body into the grave, she started a fire. They watched until his remains turned to ash.

When the fire died out, she tossed the silver dollar into the hole—representing the only earthly belongings she _could_ bury him with.

Then she covered the ashes back up with the dirt, piling it high, until a great mound stood packed over him—apparent in appearance that this was a grave and should remain undisturbed.

He placed the stone he had carved on top of the mound and watched as she cemented it into the earth, ensuring it stood the test of time.

The carving depicted Fenrir, the wolf, standing proud, free from the shackles and fetter that lay at his feet.

He was free.

Free from the gods who had chained him to the earth so long ago.

Free from Malivore.

Free to transcend this plane and join his father and siblings at last.


	24. Some Things Are More Important Than Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Maya was still shaking.

Josie brought her to the Salvatore School and led her to a study with comfortable couches and wood finishes. Josie also brought her a blanket and a bottle of water and was sitting next to her, clearly on edge, wondering what Maya would do next.

Maya didn't know _what_ to do.

Her brother had just suffered unlike anything she had ever seen before to turn into a _werewolf_. She felt her stomach twist just thinking about it.

She sat up straight and clutched her mouth, looking around.

Josie quickly grabbed a waste basket and held it out for her.

Losing what little water she had swallowed, along with the cookie she ate before leaving the house, she didn't feel much better.

"Here," Josie handed her some tissues.

"Where is he?" Maya asked while shakily wiping her mouth.

"In the woods probably," Josie said. "He would've chased her. Kaleb will track them down."

"He had the gun?" Maya asked, suddenly afraid again.

"A tranquilizer," Josie hastened to say. "Just to knock him out so they can bring him back here."

"To the school?" Maya asked skeptically.

"We have facilities beneath the school designed to house the wolves on the full moon," Josie explained.

"So they'll take Ethan there?"

"Yes."

"How did this happen?" Maya asked. "Did someone bite him or scratch him?"

"It's a gene that he was born with," Josie said. "He must've triggered it since the last full moon."

"How do you trigger it?"

"You have to kill someone," Josie said.

"Ethan would _never_!" Maya reared back and clutched at the blanket around her shoulders.

"It doesn't have to be on purpose," Josie explained. "An accident where he's at fault does the same thing."

"But he didn't cause any accidents either," Maya denied.

Josie was pretty sure it had happened because of Dennis, which meant no one would remember the details because the Birds of Ares had returned to the pit and wiped all their memories clean.

"We'll find out from him for sure later," Josie said. "For now, just sit tight. My dad will let me know as soon as they get back."

Maya nodded. She curled up on the cushioned chair and rested her head on the arm.

She just wanted to see her brother and make sure he was okay.

* * *

"I'm here," Mac arrived, slamming through Alaric's study door without bothering to knock. She laid a bag on the desk. "A change of clothes for him. Now, tell me, where are my kids and what happened?"

"You might want to sit down for this," Alaric said.

" _Where are my kids!?_ "

"They're downstairs," he said. "We had to put Ethan in one of the cells down there. Maya didn't want to leave him, so she's waiting outside of the cell for now. Josie is with her."

"Why is Ethan in a cell?" she asked. "Take me to them."

"Ethan's in a cell because he's not exactly himself," Alaric grimaced. "I know you're not too keen on the supernatural community, but I've a feeling that's about to change."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"Have you ever killed someone in the line of duty?" he asked.

"On the force? No," she said.

"What about ever? Have you ever killed anyone?"

"In the EOD, I'm sure bombs I help set killed _some_ one," she said. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Your first husband, he was in the army?"

"Yes, he died on his first tour," she answered. "I'm pretty sure he killed someone too, if you must know."

"Tell me about him. Where was he from?"

"Ric, is this really the time?"

"Humor me."

"Louisiana," she said. "I met him while serving, he had just finished training, and we hit it off. He moved to Kansas to marry me before his tour began."

"Did he have a birthmark? On his shoulder?" Alaric asked. That would certainly explain why Ethan's first change had gone through so quickly. The only other wolf to change that fast the first time that he knew of was Hope.

"Yes, so does Ethan," she said. "A family trait is what Max said of his."

"Well, I have bad news and good news," Alaric said.

"If it means I can go see my kids, by all means tell me so we can get a move on," Mac said.

"Max carried the wolf gene, which means Ethan carries the wolf gene too," Alaric said. "And he triggered that gene some time this month which caused him to turn for the first time tonight as there's a full moon."

Mac collapsed in the seat Alaric had earlier insisted she sit in. "W-what?"

"The good news is Max was a member of the Crescent wolf pack which means Ethan is too. After his first full moon he can control his turns. He never has to turn again if he chooses not to."

Mac shook her head. "I don't understand any of this. How could Ethan be… you say _Max_ …?"

"Unlike Ethan, Max probably knew, especially growing up in Louisiana—New Orleans, right?" Alaric asked. Since Ethan was the same age as Landon, then Ethan's father must've signed up for basic training immediately after Hayley married Jackson. He must've gone through basic training, gotten married himself, impregnated Mac, and started his first tour of duty in the four months before the next curse had befallen the Crescents.

Max probably spent most of his life surrounded by wolves. He would've been a child when the Crescents were cursed. Maybe his parents had activated their wolf genes and he grew up without them? It definitely wouldn't have been a normal childhood. And then if he had triggered his wolf, he would've been stuck as a wolf too since he was in the area when the spell was cast, turning human only on the full moon like the rest of his pack. When he finally had freedom from _that_ curse and could control his changes, he left home as soon as possible to join the military knowing he didn't have to fear the change while on duty. That probably wasn't something he wanted to advertise to his new wife. The story was definitely incredible.

Mac nodded.

"The Crescents are different from any other pack. They can control their turns. However," Alaric continued, "they still have all the abilities that come with being a wolf in their human form. Speed, agility, healing, heightened senses. It takes some getting used to, especially in the human world, which is why I would suggest enrolling him in the Salvatore School. To be around others like him."

"Whoa," Mac said, holding up a hand. "Wait. What does this have to do with killing someone?"

"If Josie's correct, we think Ethan was on the roof when Dennis was killed," Alaric said. "We think Ethan was somehow responsible for it."

"No way would my kid kill anyone," Mac immediately denied.

"An accident, I'm sure," he said. "When he changes back, I'll ask about it, but I'm also pretty sure he won't remember anything since no one can remember the birds or what happened during the attack."

"So you're saying Ethan accidentally killed his teammate, but doesn't remember it?" Mac took a shaky breath. "He's not going to take that too well."

"I imagine not."

* * *

Mac joined Maya and they both waited for Ethan to change back, Maya clutching hold of her mother.

Around dawn, the wolf had awoken and began to prowl the cell, looking for an escape, but he still didn't change.

"I thought your father said he'd change back before the sun rose," Mac said. "Why is he still a wolf?"

"I don't know…" Josie said, confused as she noted a number of other wolves who had already changed and been let out of their cells. "I'll get my dad."

Arriving to the cell with Josie in tow, Alaric tried to make heads or tails of the situation.

"All Crescents have to change at their first full moon, it's a rite-of-passage," Alaric began. "But maybe that's the only change required…maybe in order to change back, the wolf has to make it happen?"

"Ethan?" Mac approached the cell, crouching down to get his attention. "Ethan, honey, change back. Can you hear me?"

He prowled around in a circle before lying down on his haunches and resting his snout on top of his paws.

"Mom," Maya joined her at the cell. "What he went through, it was horrible. So much pain."

"Every bone in their bodies break to reform into the wolf," Alaric provided.

Mac gasped and tears rose to her eyes. _My boy_.

"I'm sure he's not too anxious to do _that_ again," Maya said.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until he's ready," Alaric said. 

"What if he's never ready?" Mac said.

"He will be," Alaric said, looking at the wolf. "Just give him time."

"I better go check on Jade," Josie said. "She'll be waking up soon too." Kaleb had to break her neck to subdue her. They had forced a werewolf cure down her throat, but she was still passed out the last time Josie looked in on her. They put her in a cell too, just in case her ripper was still active once she woke.

"Josie?" Maya whispered, coming over to her. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes?"

"Can you tell her I'm sorry, but this is too much?" Maya asked. "It was fun, but I can't be with her, not knowing what she is."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Josie asked, figuring if Jade was awake she probably just heard it anyway.

"I can't…be near her again," Maya replied, shuddering. "I don't want to talk to her ever again. Is that mean? I know it is. I'm just…not okay with it. She scares me."

Josie just nodded.

* * *

"I heard her," Jade said. "You don't have to repeat it."

She turned away and rubbed at her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Josie said.

"It's okay," Jade said. "It's not like we were serious or anything. It was fun while it lasted. It just hurts, you know? Being rejected for who you are. I've had way too much practice with that. You'd think it would've gotten easier."

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help you last night," Josie said. She picked up the keys and unlocked the cell. The ripper was definitely contained.

"It wasn't your fault," Jade said, sitting up with a sigh. "It was just one of those things. Luckily I didn't kill anyone. But I could've. And that… yeah, it's scary. Maya is right to be scared. I could've killed her. I could've killed _you_. I wouldn't be surprised if you ran away screaming either."

"I'm not going anywhere," Josie said, standing in the open cell door, waiting for her to leave.

"You're a really good friend," Jade said, smiling slightly. "Thank you."

Josie nodded. "Want to get some breakfast? There's some really nice bunny blood waiting for you. Might even be able to scrounge you up some pancakes?"

"Sounds great."

* * *

Clarke stared at the laptop screen he booted up with his hot spot, willing it to say something different, but nope.

"Crap."

"What?" Hope asked.

"I screwed up."

Knowing he didn't admit that lightly, she walked over to see what had him annoyed.

"I didn't think," he grumbled. "Thanksgiving is _one week away_ , which means _everyone_ will be flying. Flights are practically completely booked all next week out of Wyoming. I should've done this sooner." He had been pretty distracted by Hope but excuses weren't going to change the situation.

"You mean, we can't get to New Orleans by Thursday?" she asked, worried.

"No, we _can_ ," he said. "But they only have a single seat available on the flights with any availability. And the only day that has two flights with single seats is on Monday."

Four days from now.

"So you're saying…"

"We have to take separate flights," he huffed.

"Then we'll take separate flights," Hope said simply.

Shaking his head, he went back to typing. "I'll book them. Better start clearing up the weather so we can get down the mountain into Cheyenne without using magic."

"Okay."

"And we need to make your ID," he said, pausing with his fingers over the keyboard. "What name do you want to use?"

She thought about it, really having no idea, but went with, "Marsha Hale."

He raised an eyebrow. "How did you come up with that?"

"My mom's maiden name is Hayley Marshall," she shrugged. "A play on that."

"It definitely won't raise any flags," he said, entering the name. "You don't look like a Marsha."

"Do you know many Marshas?"

"None from this century."

"Then you pick it!"

"It's fine," he said, smirking as he wrote it in to book her flight.

"Where's the ID you want me to morph?" she asked.

"Here," he pulled out one of his old Triad keycards. "Might want to put the wig on first, just so you know what you look like with it. And the glasses."

"Can't I just use magic to change my hair?" she asked. "Why do I gotta wear a wig?"

"Can the magic be sensed if you change it? Once we leave?" he asked. "Because you won't be using magic once we leave, not for a while."

"I'm…not sure?" she said. "It'd be a glamour, so… but I _am_ cloaked."

"Cloaking hasn't stopped the monsters from finding us," he pointed out.

"Fine. I'll wear the wig," she gave in. "Where'd you put it?"

* * *

"They are  _so_ going to know this is a wig," Hope said, staring in the bathroom mirror.

He had picked out a black bob with bangs. _Bangs_! She hadn't had bangs since she was ten—a fashion victim by her own hand.

"No, they aren't," he said, adjusting the area by her right ear. It didn't really matter because the fake hair fell over the ear in a straight line.

"We'll secure it better on Monday," he said. "For now, put the glasses on."

She did, making sure not to disturb the hair in the process. " _Now_ I look like a Marsha."

"You look like you rebelled against the name before you decided to settle down as the proper librarian you were always meant to be," he commented.

"You're having way too much fun with this," she grumbled.

She picked up the Triad card, looked at his fake ID for Alex Bennington, and morphed her card to resemble the same information as him, being sure to add the code for corrective lenses and female.

He activated his ring and adjusted his appearance.

"Good, now make mine read 'William Benson'," he instructed. "And make my photo look like this."

"Who is _that_?" she asked.

"The name on the credit card I used," he said. "I don't know if Alex Bennington was compromised or not. I was saving that card for an emergency situation; I just didn't have an ID to go with it."

"Now you do," she handed his card back to him. "Now, help me get the bobby pins out of this thing."

* * *

"Hey E," Jed said, coming into the cell with a big juicy steak on a plate. He put the plate down on the ground and pushed it into the cell. "Lunch time!"

The wolf began to devour it, but kept looking up at Jed curiously.

"So, it's been two days and everyone's worried about you," Jed said. "Well, everyone being your family and the Js—including me…

"I'm really sorry I don't remember what happened on that roof," he continued. "If that's when you triggered your wolf gene I should've noticed. I _would've_ noticed. Then this wouldn't have been a surprise to you."

Ethan stopped eating his lunch and came over to the bars, close to Jed.

"I know it hurts man, but its part of being a wolf," Jed said. "I don't get a choice. Every full moon I have to turn, just like I have to turn back when it's over. We all have to do it. Except for Crescents like you. All you have to do is turn back and you never have to turn again if you don't want to. So, what do you say? Just do it and get it over with?"

Ethan continued to stare at Jed, as if he was trying to tell him something.

"It's just not like you," Jed said. "You're not one to pussy out. No one holds it against you though. But still, just deal with the pain so you can move on."

The wolf let out something that would've resembled a sigh if he were human.

"You look really annoyed," Jed said frowning. "I didn't know it was possible for wolves to get annoyed, and I _am_ one."

Ethan tapped at the cell door, showing his impatience.

"Look, I know you've never done this before, but…" Jed's eyes widened. "Is that the problem? You don't know _how_ to turn back?" Ethan hadn't known anything going in, and if his Crescent blood didn't force him to change back, how would he even begin to know how to force himself to?

Ethan stopped tapping and sat at attention, his ears tall and waiting.

"Just, focus on your bones," Jed suggested. "Tell them to change? It always happens naturally for me. Hope would know about this more than me. Too bad we can't contact her."

The wolf gave him that curious look again.

"Yeah, Hope's a wolf. Among other things. A Crescent like you too," he said.

"But focus," Jed said again. "You have control. Tell your wolf it's time to retreat. Time for you to dominate again."

He waited and sure enough the change began.

Jed winced at the sound of bones cracking.

The wolf could withstand the pain much more than the human could, so the change happened with minimal howling.

Finally Ethan was sprawled on the floor in his birthday suit, breathing heavy and covered in sweat.

"Get dressed and I'll get Doctor Saltzman," Jed said.

"Jed," Ethan called out.

"Yo?"

"Thanks."

"No prob, bro," Jed said, happy to have helped.

* * *

"So, we only have three days left here?" Hope asked as she crawled into bed next to him that night.

"Yep," he replied, turning onto his side to watch her.

After the death of Fenrir, life had returned to the norm of fighting creatures throughout the day then turning in for the night. Malivore had been sending more than normal, but he wouldn't make the mistake of sending more than _he_ could handle at once again. He had lost too many that way.

"Things will change again," she said, turning onto her side to stare at him too.

"Don't they always," he said.

"I like it here," she said.

"Me too," he reached up and traced her jaw line.

"Only got one other scar out of it," she said referring to the mark on her side left even after her wound from Fenrir had healed.

"You have another scar besides that one?" he asked, surprised.

"Here," she pointed to a spot on the side of her neck resting against the bed. "It's barely there, but I noticed it."

"What's it from?" he stroked his fingers down to that side of her neck, encouraging her to angle back so he could search for it.

"When MG nearly killed me," she said. "Don't tell him. He'll feel bad."

He'll _feel bad_? Clarke thought. _Clarke_ felt bad.

"I never told you, I'm sorry I left you there."

"You didn't _leave_ me," she said. "I _told_ you to go."

"I screwed up," he insisted. "I should've stayed."

She noticed he did that a lot—being too hard on himself. He used to always worry about failing his father, maybe this was him worrying about failing her.

"If you had stayed, you wouldn't have gotten the warning from the Sphinx, and you might not have been able to save me from the bomb," she said. "You didn't screw anything up."

She reached out and stroked the backs of her middle and forefinger down the side of his face. 

"We wouldn't be here right now if anything had gone differently. And that would've been a shame."

He had to agree at that.

Her eyes changed, lighting up mischievously.

She reached down and took hold of one of his hands. "Know what else would've been a shame?" She brought his left hand up and rested it against her chest. "If you couldn't do this."

"A damn shame," he murmured, spreading his fingers out, ready to take thorough advantage of this latest development. His fingers brushed over her nipples through his shirt and her breath caught.

She slowly fell onto her back, making it easier for him, so he continued his exploration, making eye contact with her to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were heavy laden. She seemed to be enjoying it.

His fingers found the opening between two of the buttons and he had to ask, "May I?"

She nodded, so he slowly undid the buttons of a few, starting at the middle and moving upward. He didn't move the material out of the way; he just slid his fingers inside, keeping his eyes connected to hers as he took her bare breast in hand, stroking it and then rubbing the now hard nub between his thumb and forefinger.

She arched her back suddenly, and he smirked. He loved how responsive she was. He moved to repeat his movements with her other breast, it was only fair.

This time when she arched, the material fell apart. He waited to see her reaction, but she seemed fine with it, so he went back to the buttons, undoing the ones that were still intact.

The material fell open completely and _his_ breath caught this time. She was absolutely beautiful. 

"You're beautiful," he murmured.

She blushed but reached up for him.

He kissed her but left enough space in between them to continue exploring her chest. He loved touching her, feeling her smooth skin beneath his fingertips. He would never get enough of her.

But for tonight, that would have to be enough, because she soon drew back. He knew that look of hers by now. She had gone as far as she was ready to go, and it was time for sleep now.

He immediately withdrew and closed the shirt over her, shutting out the perfect vision of her chest. She started buttoning it back up quickly as he settled on his side of the bed.

She lay against him when she was done, but then pulled back. Grinning that mischievous grin again, she reached for the bottom of his shirt. "May I?"

Smirking, he nodded, and sat up a little to help her.

She tugged his shirt off, then laid back down against him. The only exploration she did was to run her hand down to his stomach and back up his side before she settled down, resting her head against him.

He stroked her back until she fell asleep.

* * *

"I need to call Lizzie."

"We told her next Thursday."

It was Saturday morning and Hope had one thing she couldn't put off any longer.

"Well, I need to talk to her sooner," she said. "Where's the phone?"

Sighing, Clarke got up and went to the garage to retrieve it. He kept it stowed there after he used the data for the hot spot to buy the airline tickets. It was turned off to preserve the battery. He turned it back on and handed it to her. 

"Only because we're leaving soon," he said. "But be careful."

She quickly found the number and called.

"Hello!?"

"Pretend it's your mom," Hope said quickly.

" _Mom!_ Hi!" Lizzie said with a little too much effort. "It's so good to hear from you! How _are_ you!?"

"I need you to book a flight to see your mom in Europe," Hope said. "Leaving on Monday."

"Wow, that sounds so good, _Mom_ , but, uh, it's so last minute and, uh, _expensive_ ," Lizzie said.

"I'll pay you back," Hope said immediately. "Not like I don't owe Ryan a fortune already."

Clarke looked up at that and shook his head at her.

She nodded back, disagreeing with him, and then turned away to focus on the phone call again.

"Who?" Lizzie asked.

"Oh, Clarke," Hope said, remembering that everyone else still called him that.

Continuing, she said, "Go to the airport, check-in and everything, then cloak yourself and leave before the flight takes off."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. It sounded like she was getting as paranoid as he was.

"R _iii_ ght," Lizzie said.

"I really can't wait to see you at _home_ ," Hope said with emphasis.

"You mean you want me to— _Oh!_ " Lizzie finally got it. "Yeah, I can't wait to see you at home either, Mom, maybe next year you can spend Thanksgiving at home with us. But at least I'll be able to spend it with you this year."

"Bring my lucky paintbrush," Hope said.

"Uh, right, I'll get right on that… _Mom_ ," Lizzie said, totally confused.

Clarke looked at Hope. A paintbrush?… Long and thin… like the shape of lip gloss… or an arrow. _Crap_.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?" Hope said sing-song like.

"Signed, sealed, delivered," Lizzie got the message loud and clear.

She was to meet Hope at her home in New Orleans with a paintbrush and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone her plans. Got it.

"Be careful," Hope said.

"You too," Lizzie said.

"Well," Hope said, ending the call. "That went well."

Clarke took a deep breath. Then he released it. "He's alive."

"Who?"

"Landon," he said, not sure what he hated more. That Landon really _was_ alive, or that he felt like he _had_ to tell her before she removed the glamour to use the golden arrow to kill Malivore. "He's alive somewhere in our father. He's not dead."

Hope sat the phone down quietly, staring at it. "How do you know?"

"He's the one who told me our father had risen and taken him over. He was the one who told me you were in trouble," he admitted.

"How?" she asked.

"A dream maybe? I don't really know what it was," he said. "He didn't know anything else Malivore was up to, he just knew you were in trouble. So he warned me."

She nodded.

"He wanted me to kill him," he said. "I tried to find the arrow—the lip gloss—but you had already moved it. To a paintbrush apparently."

She nodded again, still staring down at the phone.

"Say something?" He was feeling a little nauseous, which wasn't a usual feeling for him. This must be his stomach's way of telling him to stop keeping things from her.

She shrugged.

"Look at me, Hope," he said.

She did, but her eyes looked blank, giving nothing away.

"What are you thinking?"

"That it doesn't matter if he's dead or alive," she said. "I knew there was a possibility when I told Lizzie to bring it. Malivore still has to die. Your telling me this only lets me know I'll be killing the both of them. So… thanks?"

"Hope…" he reached out for her, but she stood up suddenly, wrapping her arms around her stomach.

"I need a few minutes," she mumbled. "Just… give me a minute."

She walked away quickly, seeking out a place she could be alone with her thoughts.

Settling upstairs into one of the twin beds in a vacant room, she stared at the ceiling.

She wasn't upset with Ryan for keeping the truth from her for so long. He had never come right out and lied to her, he just covered up the truth. She understood why.

The part that had her wrapping her arms around herself to brace for what was to come was the part that knew if Aunt Freya couldn't help her find a way to get Malivore out of Landon, _she_ would be responsible for killing him along with his father.

She loved Landon. She really did.

But she was pretty sure she wanted to stay with Ryan, even when this was all over—even if Landon somehow survived.

But maybe that's because she hasn't seen Landon in so long. What did Lizzie say? _Out of sight, out of mind_? Maybe she convinced herself Ryan is who she should be with to make it easier for her if Landon really does have to die.

Was that being unfair to Ryan again? Probably. But, as he said before, he didn't care. Her being with him made him happy. She could see it in his every action, feel it in every kiss.

It made her happy too. She felt so at ease with him now, content in the knowledge that they both knew each other better than anyone else. He had become a presence in her life that she never wanted to lose.

She trusted him.

Did she love him?

She didn't know.

* * *

Hope joined him later that evening for dinner.

She didn't say much, but she didn't seem mad at him either. She made small talk and ate the burger he gave her but didn't once bring up the situation with Landon.

He didn't really want to talk about it either, but he would wait and see if she brought it up before she went to bed.

Tomorrow would be spent getting everything together and readying to leave. Their flights were early Monday morning so they would have to travel through the night to get there in time. There would be no time to talk about it tomorrow.

Settling into bed that night, she still didn't bring up the topic, but she did reach for him.

Thinking this would be one of those nights she just fell straight to sleep, he was surprised when she settled her hands on his shoulders, pushed him down into the mattress, and rose above him to meet his kiss.

Whatever her feelings, she wasn't holding back much that night. Her hands crept up under his shirt, feeling her way as her tongue danced with his.

He reached down to pull his shirt up and off, thinking he may forgo a shirt all the time if she wanted him to. As he pulled it off, she immediately brought her shirt up over her head too.

Not sure he would ever get used to that sight, he reached for her only to have her press herself against his bare chest. He groaned at the feeling, running his hands down her back. She went back to kissing him, so he ran his hands down to her sides, tracing his fingers along the side curves of her breasts.

She moved back but pulled at his shoulders, so he followed and rolled with her so he was on top of her now, or at least half of him was. His left leg had fallen between her thighs when they rolled. He hesitated then started to move his leg away. She reached up to hold onto his face. 

"It's okay," she whispered.

Settling more firmly against her, he took control of her mouth again, even as his left hand came up to explore her breast. He knew he shouldn't for his own sake, but he moved his hips slightly against hers.

She didn't seem to mind as the kissing and heavy petting continued. 

Eventually she grasped his hand and stilled. 

He moved his leg back, readying to lay on his back so she could lay against him like she always did to sleep. Before he could, she turned away from him but scooted her back up against him.

Trying to reign himself in, he breathed soft kisses into her neck. 

"Guess this means you're not mad at me."

She shook her head. "Earlier wasn't about you. I promise. We're okay."

Knowing she meant her thoughts had been about Landon was an instant mood killer for him, which was a good thing considering he would be forced to lay behind her all night reliving the past hour and trying not to embarrass himself otherwise.

"Goodnight, Hope," he murmured.

"Goodnight, Ryan," she murmured back.

* * *

Leaving Wyoming was bittersweet.

This was the first place he had ever felt wanted, the first place she had kissed him, the first place he had ever been truly happy.

And he was about to blow it all straight to hell.

They packed up the truck with a carry-on for each of them with a couple change of clothes. His had more since she would have things at her aunt's home. Everything else would have to be left behind, even his guns. He could always replace them, though he winced at the loss.

In the evening, before dusk fell, he used his ring to set the stage for their departure.

Giving the illusion that all was the same, he drove the both of them out of the garage. He stopped long enough for her to change the barrier around the house. No longer would it be designed to keep everything out. She created an opening at a doorway, and changed the barrier to keep everything in.

He used the ring to create an illusion of Hope going outside to fight a monster he created too. Then he made the illusion show Hope running back inside with the monster following behind.

It did its job, as other monsters suddenly came out of hiding and made their way into the house too.

He didn't know how long it would be before they found they couldn't get out. He hoped it trapped as many as possible before the dark object he activated inside went off.

A special kind of bomb that destroyed supernaturals. It would go off and the explosion would be contained inside the barrier where nothing could escape.

They had until then to get as far away as possible, so that's what they were going to do now that the trap was set.

"Time to go," he said.

She nodded but stared back at the house.

Driving invisible down the roadway, he was careful to avoid any patches of ice as they escaped down the mountain.

She had done well with taming the weather over the past four days. She was worried about changing it too suddenly. She didn't want to cause avalanches. Nothing treacherous got in their path though.

Arriving at the airport early the next morning, he parked in long term parking. He activated his ring to change his appearance and then helped get her wig on, securing it with pins.

"Ouch," she complained when he stabbed one into her ear.

"It's almost done," he said. "Just don't touch anything once I'm done and it'll stay in place."

They took the shuttle to the airport and went through the security check point.

She held her breath as the security officer looked over her ticket and identification, but all seemed well when he just marked the ticket and moved her along through.

She was to take the first flight out, but arrive last because there was a layover. He would take the second flight but arrive first and wait for her.

"I'm nervous," she said. She hadn't been away from Ryan in a month. Now she was about to take a flight without him and an untold number of things could go wrong.

"Don't do magic and you'll be fine," he said.

"You better be fine too," she insisted.

"Relax," he said. "I have my ring. Even if something goes wrong, you changed the cloaking spell so _you_ could find me."

An announcement rang out overhead, indicating it was time for her flight to board. She turned back to him. "Everything is going to be fine."

He nodded.

She reached up on tiptoe, tracing the backsides of her middle and forefingers down the side of his face like always. He leaned into her touch and bent down to her.

She kissed him hard, pulling him to her as tightly as she could.

And then she was walking away and boarding the plane.

He went to his own gate to wait, resisting tapping his foot against the floor too much.

Finally, he boarded his own flight.

For once, the entire plan went without a hitch.

He arrived in New Orleans by five in the evening, waiting another two hours for her to arrive.

He met her at her gate and the relief on her face probably rivaled his own.

She ran into his arms and sighed, "At least something went right this trip."

She pulled back with a grin, already starting to pull the bobby pins out.

"Time to go home!"

* * *

The only flight Lizzie could find on Monday left late in the night. She made arrangements to catch a Lyft to the Roanoke Blacksburg Airport. Her ticket granted her a flight from Roanoke with a layover at Dulles, before heading on through to Heathrow.

She had emailed her mother in her and Josie's old 'twin speak'. She figured by the time any Triad agent deciphered that gibberish, she would already be on her way to New Orleans and they wouldn't find her. She wanted her mother to know of her 'flight' since that was the story she was telling everyone—that she was flying in to London to see her mother.

Josie wanted to come along until she used that same 'twin speak' to let her know she wasn't really going there, but she couldn't say where she was going. Josie wasn't happy to hear that, of course, but there was no help for it.

Mom had tons of questions and was worried. She told her mother she was going to see Hope, that everything would be okay and—since Clarke was there—she might actually _finally_ get the merge information they needed so Mom could stop searching and come home.

She went through the motions of checking-in at the airport. She even checked one bag of luggage full of linens. She waited patiently for her turn at the security check point, and then she took her shoes off to put on the conveyer belt along with her purse. She went through security, got wanded, and then grabbed her bag and shoes again, putting the later on. She went to the bathroom, found an empty stall, and performed the spell to cloak herself. She pulled a scarf out and wrapped it around her head, blocking out her shock of blonde hair.

Then she walked out and quickly found the exit.

Waiting on the sidewalk outside of Arrivals, she kept an eye out for a familiar vehicle.

When her car pulled in front of her with the top down and a familiar face grinning at her, she couldn't help but grin back as she walked around to the driver's side.

"Where're we going?" MG asked.

She opened the door and shooed him over. 

"I'll let you know when we get there. Now, scoot!"

Hope didn't say she couldn't bring anyone with her, just not to tell them. No way was she driving all the way to New Orleans by herself.

Fortunately MG was always up for a crazy last minute scheme, and she had cloaked him before she even left for the airport.

"Into the great unknown then," MG said, nodding as he moved over into the passenger seat.

"I'm Han Solo," she said, referring to the comic book he just referenced. "You can be the Chewy one."

"Chewbacca," he corrected her.

"Whatever," she said, putting the car into drive.

"You know, the fact that you know about a single Star Wars Tales comic says—"

"MG!" she cut him off. "Focus. We're road tripping, not discussing my knowledge of nerdy things. Clearly I've been hanging around you too much."

"If you say so," he gave her one of his sweet smiles.

She ignored him and switched lanes.

"Thanks for inviting me along," he said.

"Thanks for coming," she said. She felt better having him with her.

He always came through.

* * *

"Aunt Freya!"

Clarke watched as Hope ran to hug the thin tall blonde woman waiting for them in the courtyard. He followed behind silently, taking her and their setting in.

"Hope," Freya hugged her tightly, smiling a kiss into her hair. "You had us so worried."

"You got my message?" Hope said, wondering if somehow the fire message hadn't been sent properly. She _had_ been low on magic at that point.

"I did," Freya said, pulling back to take in her appearance. "And I got the one your friend, Lizzie, gave me too. I believe that one came from him." She nodded to the man standing behind her niece.

"And you are?" she asked.

"Aunt Freya," Hope said, turning to include Ryan and introduce him. "This is Cl—"

"Ryan," Clarke interrupted her, holding out his hand to Freya. "Ryan Clarke. Some call me Clarke, but you can call me Ryan."

"Ryan," Freya nodded and shook his hand.

Hope smiled, pleased. The only people he wanted to call him Ryan were the people he cared about, which was why she was going to introduce him as Clarke. But he cared about her aunt, probably because she was important to her.

"That was some message you sent," Freya said to Clarke. "Thankfully they never identified her or I would've had to put together a fake funeral."

"Funeral?" Hope asked, confused.

"He made it look like you two had died in Nebraska," Freya said. "Lizzie explained it was to get a government organization off your tail?"

"Oh," Hope nodded. "Yeah." She didn't think much about Nebraska thankfully. She was too busy focusing on fighting. Plus, Ryan had distracted her.

"Sounds like we have a lot to catch up on," Freya said pointedly.

"How much time you got?" Hope asked with a laugh.

* * *

"So, Kai Parker told Doctor Saltzman to move his bones outside of the cemetery and burn them so that no one could raise him again?" Freya asked. "And he believed that?"

"Uh, yes?" Hope said.

Freya leaned back in her chair, continuing to rock the swing holding her son who had gotten fussy while she was catching up with Hope and Ryan. Nik had fallen back to sleep, soothed by the movement and the sound of their voices. Keelin was working late at the clinic that night.

Freya shook her head, "What are they teaching at that school? Kai just wanted his remains moved to get out from under that necromancer's control. He tricked him into helping him."

"At least he's dead either way," Hope said, smiling with relief. "And no one has any plans to raise him ever again."

Freya shook her head. "Go on."

The story came out much faster than it had taken to live it. Hope spoke for the most part, just laying out the facts of the creatures without going into too much detail about how she felt about everything. Clarke only spoke up when Hope couldn't remember something.

"Wait," Freya held up a hand. "The monsters found you every time you used magic?"

Hope nodded. "Took us long enough to figure it out."

"But how did Malivore know you were using magic? You're not connected to him at all."

Hope shrugged. "I don't really know… he knew when I used magic when I was _in_ Malivore. I guess I just assumed that was why?"

Freya looked thoughtful. "Since you've been on the run, have you ever done magic and nothing showed up?"

Hope thought about it. "Once…no twice. When Triad attacked Ryan," she said. "But the demons found us at the motel later that night, and since they only attacked when their victims sleep we just assumed that was why they didn't attack earlier. They had to wait."

"But they were working together," Freya said, "So they could've been sent together after _one_ of those times of using magic…"

"What are you getting at?" Clarke asked.

"Explain to me those two times," Freya told Hope.

"I… killed the Triad agent with magic from down the alley since I couldn't reach them in time when she was attacking Ryan," Hope admitted, hoping her aunt wouldn't be angry with her. "Nothing showed up."

"And the other time?"

"I was in a mood after leaving the diner by myself and used magic to kick a can because I wanted a monster to show up so I could kill it," Hope said, giving an apologetic look to Ryan. "Sorry."

Freya sat back. "That's why."

"What?" Hope asked.

"Malivore can't just randomly sense when you do magic," Freya said. "He can only sense when you do magic near his son. Near Ryan."

Clarke looked up with alarm. "You mean he can track me?"

Freya shook her head. "I don't think so. I think he can only sense where you are when she uses magic because it hurts him, and he's able to pinpoint the location from that. But he probably feels the link even if he can't tell where you're at."

"If I'm linked to him, I need to leave," he said, immediately standing. He didn't want to leave Hope, but he couldn't put her or her family in danger.

"Ryan, no!" Hope insisted, reaching to grab his hand. "Aunt Freya!"

"I can help," Freya said. "I can unlink the two of you, but I'm not sure that will give your location away or not."

"Is there another option?" Hope asked.

Freya looked pensive. "I can cloak the link to Ryan, but Malivore might take action if he can't feel it anymore. If he's torturing witches for information, he might start attacking them to make them search for him…

"I can try one thing I haven't done since you were a child, and it didn't work very well, but I think it'll be okay this time," she said.

"What are you going to do?" Hope asked.

"Ryan's a golem, so why not replicate the link and transfer it to another golem—or a doll, and I'll have it sent away," she said. "I'll cloak the link to Ryan at the same time so Malivore doesn't notice any disruption."

"Why didn't it work when I was a child?" Hope asked, looking for any flaws in the plan.

"Because the golem didn't have a heartbeat, and the witch tracking you would've noticed. Malivore isn't a witch. He won't notice," Freya explained.

"Do it," Clarke insisted.

"Watch him," Freya said to Hope, indicating the baby, as she got up to get her supplies.

Hope moved to Freya's vacated seat and started rocking Nik.

"I know you're kicking yourself," Hope said. "But you didn't screw up again. You couldn't have known."

"I _should've_ though," Clarke said, angry with himself.

"Stop," Hope said. "We needed to kill the monsters, and he could've unleashed them on Mystic Falls if he couldn't track me somehow."

She had a point, but it didn't make it better. He helped his father find her. Malivore used him and she could've been killed.

He _really_ hated his father.

* * *

The spell had gone down easily enough and Freya called someone to pick up the golem and drive out of town with it.

They continued to talk, filling her in until she was completely caught up and Freya and Hope were both yawning.

"It's getting late, time for me to put him down," Freya said. "Hope, go ahead to your room. I'll show Ryan to his."

Hope's mouth dropped open. "Um—"

"Hope?" Freya gave her a look.

Hope closed her mouth and nodded. She gave him an apologetic look.

"It could be dangerous," he tried. "Letting her sleep alone."

Freya shook her head and gave a firm polite smile. "This place has wards and barriers all over it. It's the safest place in New Orleans from monsters and things that go bump in the night. My son _and_ my niece are safe to sleep here undisturbed."

Knowing there was nothing he could do, he nodded and looked at Hope too, just as apologetically.

Hope slowly stood, grasped her travel bag, and made her way to her room. She wasn't much for PDA so she wasn't going to kiss him in front of her aunt. She would just have to see him in the morning...

Freya stood, and he followed her lead.

"I'll show you to Elijah's old room," she said, picking Nik up and laying him against her shoulder. He adjusted easily. "It's been turned into a guest room. Very comfortable and the linens are fresh. Changed them this morning even though I didn't anticipate seeing either of you for a couple more days."

"Thank you," he nodded, following her up the stairs.

She nodded in reply.

As they reached the second level and she continued on to the room, she began to speak.

"This golden arrow, it will kill Landon," she confirmed.

He nodded.

"And the only other way we know for sure to destroy Malivore is Hope?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"So, everyone's asking her to choose between someone she cares about and her own life…and they think she'll choose hers?"

He swallowed, knowing she had a point, but still… "I think she will. Arrangements have been made to put the arrow in her hands." And it was impossible for her to gain access to the pit at the moment anyway.

"Holding it and using it are two different things," Freya pointed out.

They came to a stop outside a door he assumed was where he would stay that night.

"Keep an eye on her," she said, knowing he would do as she asked. He clearly cared a great deal for her niece. "She'll have to activate her vampire side if she goes that route."

"Maybe only some blood would be needed," he insisted.

"Even so…I warn you about letting that happen," she said gravely.

He didn't understand. He knew Hope didn't want to be a vampire, not yet anyway. And he wasn't too thrilled about the dying part, but if it would mean she would live forever with him... And then there was the power.

"More power is a good thing," he said.

"Some things are more important than power," she said, looking down at the child sleeping peacefully on her shoulder, she smiled at him and rubbed his back gently. She looked back up at Clarke. " _You_ should know that."

Clarke finally understood what she was saying, and his stomach clenched knowing that was the one thing he would never be able to give Hope.

He nodded.

"Let me know if you need anything," she said. "Goodnight."

Entering the room, he placed his bag on a table and rubbed at his face.

Tonight had yielded many revelations that he wasn't too comfortable with. To be the reason the monsters had been able to follow Hope, that he had put her in danger without even knowing it... Thankfully Freya had figured it out and Hope could use her magic again, though he was sure she would still be wary.

Then there was the other part. Freya was asking him to make sure Hope didn't decide to sacrifice herself for them all, including Landon. She was also asking him to protect a future for Hope, a part of that future that he couldn't have a hand in.

She didn't have to ask. He would do anything for Hope.

As he got ready for bed, he wasn't surprised when there was a light tap at his door.

Answering it, there she was in her favorite pajama top and shorts, smiling up at him.

Reaching for her, she came into his arms gladly, standing on tiptoe to meet his kiss. He closed the door behind her and led her over to the bed, pulling his shirt off as he went.

She sat on the edge, scooted back, and started unbuttoning her shirt.

He climbed in next to her and took over, loosening each button from its hole and kissing down her chest as each one revealed more skin.

Kissing his way down to her stomach, the shirt fell away, baring her chest to him. He pulled it the rest of the way off. She clutched at his shoulders as he traced his tongue back up the path he just kissed. Then he rubbed his thumbs across each breast.

Bending to mouth at one while caressing the other, he forgot all about his worries and focused on pleasuring her until she put a stop to it like she always did.

He never minded. He knew eventually they would get there. He was glad they still kept things above the waist though. He didn't know how much control he could maintain once things progressed below, especially if he couldn't take her. He wouldn't do anything she didn't want, but it would be pure torture for him.

Finally, she drew back, her face a mess of pleasure, lips bruised kissed, and put an end to things. He lay down next to her, drawing her close.

She reached up with her middle and forefinger, sliding the backs of those fingers down the side of his face. "Sleep with me tonight?"

He hesitated. He knew Freya said the compound was well protected, but he had watched over Hope while she slept every night since they started this journey. He didn't know if he wanted to leave anything to chance… Except this was a big step for her. She must really feel safe. One day she would have to sleep without him watching over her, and maybe it would be better to have a test run to see if demons chased her into her dreams. And he _was_ curious if he would dream while sleeping with her.

"Okay," he agreed, running his fingers through her hair.

She lay against his chest until she fell asleep.

He closed his eyes and followed her into the darkness.

* * *

The vision, like a dream, drifted away as soon as the boy closed the door.

"Thank _you_ , Freya!" Hayley exclaimed, raising her hands.

"Am I missing something?" Klaus asked.

"She's a tribrid, Klaus, the _first_ of her kind," she explained. "We don't know enough. We don't even know if she'll just become a hybrid once she activates her vampire side. The only vampire that's ever been able to keep their witch powers is a heretic. She's not a siphon."

"What does that have to do with…"

"Freya and I used to discuss this. If she loses her magic, becomes just a hybrid, she might not be able to have kids," Hayley explained.

" _I_ could," Klaus scoffed.

"I couldn't once I was turned. I didn't even ovulate," Hayley said. "She may be _fine_ ; the point is _we don't know_."

"Does she know this?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Hayley nodded. "I never kept anything from her, not even this possibility."

"So she's willing to…"

"She doesn't think _she's_ supposed to exist," she said. "What do you think her thoughts are on her own children?"

Klaus frowned.

"Which is why Freya telling Ryan to watch out for her is so important," Hayley said.

"You sure do put a lot of faith in that boy," Klaus noted.

"You should too. He's the only one who can save her from herself."


	25. Where's MY Loophole?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words. ___

"I have wondered into the bowels of Mordor itself!"

Hope groaned into her pillow, "Watch another movie."

" _Sleeping with the enemy_!" Lizzie said very pointedly, looking away from the two on the bed who were thankfully covered with a blanket. Given the bare shoulders on each of them though, Hope had gone to the land of no return—with _Clarke_ no less.

Hope, who was weighted down by Ryan's arm strewn across her back, his face buried into his own pillow next to her still fast asleep, rose up as much as possible and used her magic to fling a pillow across the room at Lizzie.

"Get out," Hope grumbled then collapsed back on the bed. "It's too early. I'm going back to sleep."

" _No_ , it's not," Lizzie said, turning her back to them and crossing her arms. "I have been in a car for nearly sixteen hours getting all kinds of road wrinkled—these capris will never be the same. My only relief being MG who I had to direct to come here without actually telling him where we were going all so I could get a few hours of _the_ most uncomfortable shut-eye ever. So no, it's not early. It's _way_ past early. Past noon even. So get up! I can't believe I had to trace your essence throughout the house just to find you." She was cloaked so that was Lizzie's only option.

"Okay, okay," Hope mumbled. "Gimmie a few minutes."

Lizzie left then, scoffing as she closed the door firmly behind her.

Hearing the door close, Clarke opened his eyes now that the coast was clear. "Morning."

Hope rolled to her left side and looked at him sleepily. "You didn't lock the door?"

"I did," he rolled to his back and sat up to stretch.

"Were you awake the whole time she was here?" she asked.

"Yep," he said, lying back down.

Shaking her head, she plopped down too and closed her eyes.

"Better get up before the she-devil returns," he said.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Mine," he said simply.

Groaning, she sat up but hit _him_ with a pillow.

"Violence this early?" he smirked, sitting up again.

"Its not early, _remember_?" she said sweetly.

She grabbed at the sheets and brought them to her chest, remembering belatedly she wasn't wearing a top. "Where's my shirt?"

He glanced around and pointed to some spot on the floor on his side of the bed.

She levitated it to her.

"Using your magic a lot this morning," he observed.

She shrugged. "Aunt Freya said it was okay. Besides, how else was I supposed to get the shirt?"

"You could get up and get it?" he said with a grin.

"R _iii_ ght," she said, shrugging into the shirt under the sheets, modesty firmly in place that morning. "Bad enough I gotta sneak back to my room in my pajamas. I hope Aunt Freya's already downstairs and didn't check on me."

"You could've brought your clothes with you," he said.

"I didn't think that far ahead," she huffed, finishing buttoning the shirt. "I'm not used to other people being around yet."

"Get used to it," he said, shifting across the bed to sit next to her. "She brought the Greasley kid with her. And isn't your aunt's wife here too?"

"Aunt Keelin, right," she nodded. She was probably still sleeping since she worked the late shift last night.

"Thanksgiving, it's a family affair, isn't it?" he asked. "Did Freya invite anyone else?"

"I didn't even think to ask," she said. "We don't usually get together for this one." She was distracted by his chest.

"See something you like?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes, blushing, and shifted to the edge of the bed. "Better go before Lizzie comes back. Gotta have a little talk with her about closed doors."

"Something tells me she isn't going to care," he said, remembering the last time the blonde had burst in on them when he was in prism form on Hope's bed.

" _Invisique_ ," Hope said, making herself invisible to go back to her room.

"You really think that'll work with your aunt?" he asked. He knew a powerful witch when he saw one. Freya had been practicing for _years_. A simple invisibility spell wasn't going to fool her.

"No," Hope's voice rang out through the air. "But it'll work with anyone else."

He saw the door open by itself and close.

 _What,_ he thought, _no morning kiss?_

He shook his head, and lay back on the bed again.

 _Dreamless sleep once again_. He woke when the twin opened the door, the change in the air had tensed him awake, but she started speaking before he could attack.

He should've known he still wouldn't dream. What, was sleeping next to Hope supposed to magically give him that ability? All she did was sleep too.

At least she had slept without any nightmares. He would've woken if her dreams became restless, she probably would've maimed him with an elbow in the side.

Time to get up, shower, and then see what their next step was in the fight against his father.

* * *

Ethan grabbed a bottled water from the fridge and chugged it.

He had just gotten back from a ten mile run and he was barely winded. He ran his fastest ten mile yet. Faster than any Guinness record ever held.

And he had these new powers to thank for that.

His mom and sister were still regarding him as if he would crumble at any minute after what he suffered, but he was feeling better than he ever had in his life.

Admittedly, he never wanted to go through that pain ever again, but he didn't mind the rest of it.

He wasn't sure about switching schools though. He had only just adjusted to his new one. Plus, Maya was there and she definitely couldn't switch schools too. Doctor Saltzman had asked about having Maya compelled to forget about the supernatural world, but he and his mom had disagreed immediately. He never hid anything from his sister and he wasn't about to start now, not over something this huge.

Werewolves, vampires, and witches actually exist. He couldn't believe these were his thoughts. Maya was the one who got into those supernatural movies and shows. Ironically, _he_ was the one with the wolf gene.

According to what his mom and Doctor Saltzman had said, he inherited the gene from his father, which meant Maya didn't have it because they had different fathers. It was interesting to know where his birthmark had come from, but it left him with a million questions that he wished he could ask his father.

Dead before he was born, his father had always been this person he couldn't connect to. His mother didn't have many photos as they had married after a whirlwind romance. She said he didn't have any family, so that was that. A man he knew next to nothing about, and one he never thought about, had left him with this insane legacy that had just changed his entire life.

Fortunately, he didn't have to decide about switching schools _yet_. It was Tuesday in the week of Thanksgiving. Since he had already missed so much school due to his unexpected situation, he was going to head up to the Salvatore school and hang out with Jed. Get a tour, find out what life would be like there, and maybe get some questions answered in the process.

"You are visiting the Salvatore school?" Seylah asked, coming into the kitchen but resting against the doorway.

"Yeah," he refilled the bottle from the sink.

"Can I join you?" She hadn't yet purchased a vehicle even though Cynthia had saved everything for her from the sale of her house and shop. Her sister hadn't known where she went or when she would be back, so she had sold everything when she moved. She couldn't afford to keep them on her own. Seylah understood. She wouldn't wish to return there anyway, not if Triad remembered her existence. She was going to need new identification.

Ethan gave her a questioning look. "What do you know about the Salvatore school?"

"More than you," she said, amused. She knew all about her nephew's new powers. Cynthia had been quite distraught but she had managed to calm her sister down. Cynthia hadn't explained Seylah and Landon to Ethan and Maya yet, but she would soon. She wanted to be the one to do it.

Seylah understood the wait. There had already been so many changes for them. But these kids, she had been observing them ever since she got out of the pit. They were strong kids, resilient.

"I'm leaving now," he said.

"Let's go."

* * *

"The boys are touring the campus," Seylah told Alaric as she settled in the chair across from him at his desk.

"Good," Alaric said, nodding. "Ethan needs to get a feel for things. Hopefully he decides to come here. It would really benefit him in the long run."

"That's not for me to decide," she said. "And that's not why I came here."

"What can I do for you?"

"Landon," she said. "You said you didn't know if he was alive. Has anything changed?"

"No," Alaric lied immediately.

"I too know when I'm being lied to," Seylah said, referring to their conversation the previous year when she had lied to Landon and Alaric knew it.

Alaric maintained a straight face as long as possible before he gave in with a sigh. "Yes, he's alive. But it doesn't matter."

"You also said Hope is the only one who can defeat Malivore," she said.

Alaric decided it was time to lay it out for her. 

"The only way to stop Malivore right now that we know of for sure is to kill Landon with this golden arrow. That's the easiest way, though we're trying to find another one. One that won't kill him. That's why we're searching for the golem body."

"Where is this arrow?" Seylah asked, eyes flashing.

"It's safe," Alaric said firmly.

"So why does Hope have to wield this arrow?" she asked. "You said she's the only one who can defeat Malivore?"

"She's not the only one who can, no," Alaric shook his head. "The only other way to defeat Malivore is for her to die, activate her vampire side, and then jump into the pit to destroy it."

"So why not do that?" she asked.

"Because it will probably kill her in the process," he said.

"I see," Seylah sat back. It was a choice between Landon's or Hope's life. Alaric would do anything to preserve the girl's, while Seylah wanted her son to survive. Though, she was sure Landon would rather the girl survive too.

"I fought for that boy," she said. "Even when I didn't ask to have him, when I knew I couldn't keep him, when all I know of him are those few days. The _only_ thing I have ever wanted for him was to live a happy life. To _live_."

Alaric watched her but didn't reply.

She gathered herself together and sat up straight, eyeing him firmly. "If anyone comes after my boy with that arrow, they will have to take my life first to get to him."

"Then you _will_ die," Alaric said. He would kill her himself if he had to. There was no way he was going to allow Hope to die in Landon's place.

"So be it," she said.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

Alaric cleared his throat. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Hopefully we can retrieve Malivore's body and use that instead."

"You said you don't know how to get it out of the pit, and you don't know what to do with it once you _do_ get it," Seylah said.

"These things always have a way of working out…somehow," he said.

"I'm not as optimistic," she said. "I've done everything I can for that boy, and I _will_ die for him if I have to."

"In that case…" Alaric trailed off, suddenly remembering when the last time a child he was looking after was saved by using her biological parent's life force. "I hate to say it… but what if I can guarantee both Landon _and_ Hope will survive Malivore's death, but… you would _have_ to die in the process."

"Yes?" she asked.

"What if you really _could_ die in his place?"

"I'm listening."

* * *

"There she is," Lizzie said, rising with a grin from her seat in the courtyard.

Despite the rude awakening, Hope was glad to see her friend. She grinned and went to hug her.

"It's good to see you," Hope said into the hug. She pulled away. "Outside. Not inside behind a _locked_ door," she finished pointedly.

"Pssh," Lizzie brushed her actions away and sat back down. "I was trying to find you. How was I supposed to know I'd walk into _that_?"

"You could've knocked?" Hope said, sitting next to her.

"Where's the fun in that?" Lizzie shrugged. She had been too impatient to find Hope. When she wasn't in the room Freya had directed her to, she was annoyed she had to search further. A locked door wasn't going to stop her.

"Where's MG?" Hope looked around.

"Freya took him out. Getting him stocked up on Bambi blood or something," Lizzie shrugged. "She had to pick up her order for Thursday too."

Hope breathed a sigh of relief. At least Aunt Freya wasn't home to notice she wasn't where she was supposed to be. She tried to be respectful of her aunt's wishes. She tried to stay in her room last night, she _really_ did, but she was too used to sleeping with him. She wasn't ready to sleep without him. Not yet. And it wasn't like she was having sex with him.

"So?" Lizzie asked.

"So, what?" Hope asked.

"How was it?" Lizzie asked, smirking. "You know…" She nodded back toward the room Hope had vacated earlier.

"We haven't…" Hope blushed.

"Well, why not?" Lizzie asked, frustrated at still being the only sexually active one in her group. One day these people will know how awesome sex is! "Your shippers are waiting here."

"I thought you were Team Landon," Hope asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I reserve the right to switch teams. Not that I _have_ , mind you," Lizzie was quick to clarify. She may have softened toward Clarke, but she certainly wasn't going to admit it.

Hope shrugged. "He hasn't pushed for it at all. I'm actually kind of surprised. I thought he would. He's so much older; I figured it'd be something he'd want to do immediately."

"True, he _is_ old," Lizzie nodded. "At least he's younger than your father, which is more than I can say about _my_ last boyfriend."

Hope laughed. "Maybe it's not something he's that interested in? I mean, we do other things, but never that…"

Lizzie snorted. "Not interested in? Yeah, right. What, you think way back when he could just go to the free clinic to get his swimmers checked? How do you think he found out he's sterile?"

Hope frowned at her. "But he said—" That he would've been killed that first day. He wasn't exaggerating, was he?

"Oh!" Lizzie grasped Hope's arm. "I got it!"

"What?"

"He's impotent. He totally can't get it up. No wonder he hasn't pushed for sex," Lizzie nodded as if she had all the answers.

"Lizzie!" Hope squeaked, tearing her arm away from the blonde's grasp. "Stop! He isn't!"

"I feel totally better about my ship now," Lizzie said with a proud smile.

Hope didn't feel better at all, in fact, she was feeling downright disgruntled. There was no way Ryan had a problem like that, why else would he be so into everything they did together? But he _did_ put his pride on the line when she admitted she still had feelings for Landon. Maybe that was why? But then, why wouldn't he tell her? No, that just wasn't possible. He was waiting for _her_ to be ready…right?

Of course, Lizzie's alternative theory didn't make her feel much better. How _did_ they figure out Ryan was sterile? He didn't go around having sex with everything that walked, _did he_?!

"You know what," Hope said with a fixed stare. "Maybe you should've stayed in Mystic Falls."

"Was it something I said?" Lizzie said gleefully then shook her head with a laugh. "I'm sure it's fine. _He's_ fine. As to the other, you needed me."

She reached to the chair on the other side of the table and picked up a bag.

"Do you realize _how_ many paintbrushes you have?" she dropped the heavy bag in front of Hope on the table. "You could've given more description. Thick, thin, long—was it for painting on canvas or the big ones you use for banners?"

"I was being mysterious," Hope opened the bag so she could spot the right one, but she didn't pull it out. It was still pretty well hidden in the bag. Why pull it out in case they were being spied on? She learned her lesson with that stupid eyeball.

She looked up when she felt a rush of air next to her.

"Are we painting then?" Kol asked with a grin.

"Oh my God, Uncle Kol!" Hope jumped up and hugged him tightly.

"There's my best girl," Kol said, returning her hug and leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

He pulled back as Davina joined them. "Second best," he corrected with a wink to his wife.

Hope pulled away and hugged Davina next. "I didn't know you guys were coming!"

"Freya convinced us," Davina said, hugging her niece. "And we were worried."

"Worried about what?" Hope asked.

"You, silly," Davina said, sitting down across from Lizzie. She reached a hand out to her. "I'm Davina."

"Lizzie," Lizzie said, reaching across to return the handshake.

Kol sat across from Hope. "Freya mentioned _you_ , my wee lass, were having a spot of trouble. I must admit, I was disappointed not to hear from you myself. You know how I do so love trouble."

"Believe me, trouble isn't gone yet," Lizzie huffed.

"Kol," Kol reached out his hand toward Lizzie.

She reached back and had to laugh when he kissed the top of her hand in greeting.

"A pleasure," he said with a teasing wink.

"I'm sure," Lizzie shook her head and pulled away. She had enough of charming men with accents to last a lifetime.

Davina rolled her eyes and poked him. "Your manners are intact for sure."

He grasped _her_ hand and brought it to his lips, lingering with a look of pure adoration.

Davina returned the look.

"There wasn't time to contact anyone," Hope answered him, smiling at her uncle and aunt whose love was heartwarming to witness even after all these years. "We had to run. But Lizzie's right. It isn't over yet."

"And your traveling companion?" Kol looked around, still holding on to Davina's hand. "I assume he's here?"

"Yes," Hope said. "He'll be down shortly."

"Good," Kol nodded. "I need to compliment his work."

"His work?" Hope asked, confused.

"Never you mind, bunny," Kol said. "I'm famished. I wonder if Freya has any of the good stuff."

"It's doubtful," Davina said.

"I think she's on her way back from the butcher," Hope said.

"Not exactly what I meant," Kol said with a sigh.

* * *

"Is your brother home yet?" Mac asked Maya when she arrived home from work, taking off her coat.

"Not yet, but he should be soon," Maya replied, sitting on the couch and chewing on a Twizzler.

"I'm going to change," Mac said. "Don't go anywhere. I need to talk to the both of you."

"Aye, aye, Cap't," Maya saluted.

Shaking her head, Mac went upstairs to lock up her gun and change into something more comfortable. Maya seemed back to her old self, which was good because Mac was about to lay some more heavy stuff on them, especially Ethan.

She hadn't told Ethan yet how the werewolf gene was triggered, and she asked Maya to wait until she could do it herself. In order to do so, she would have to also explain about the birds that everyone forgot about. And why they forgot about them. She figured the best way was to explain it all at the same time.

It was going to be a long night.

"He's home!" She heard Maya yell from downstairs.

"I'll be right down!" she called back.

Settling into the easy chair downstairs, she looked over her kids. "It's been a week, hasn't it?"

Maya snorted and Ethan laughed.

"Brace yourselves because there's more," Mac said.

"We're listening," Maya said.

"Seylah isn't just a friend of mine," Mac said. "She's my sister."

"What?" Maya sat forward. "Since when!?"

"She's my half sister, from my dad," Mac continued. "She lived in Israel for years before coming to the states over twenty years ago. She found me and befriended me before she finally told me who she was. We became the best of friends."

"Why is this the first we're hearing about it?" Maya asked, looking at Ethan to include him. He looked just as confused.

"Because something happened to her," she explained. "And every person who had ever met her forgot about her, including me."

"Is this a vampire thing?" Ethan asked. "Because Jed was telling me all about them and compulsion today. Fortunately, that doesn't work on me." He looked back and forth between his sister and mother. "You two should really start taking this stuff called vervain every day. Or wear something with it."

"One day visiting the school and he's already mister-know-it-all," Maya huffed.

" _No_ ," Mac spoke over her kids. "She was tossed into a place that erased all memories of her. Then, about eighteen years ago, she was tossed back out of that place. She was pregnant and since no one remembered her, she found me and befriended me again but she didn't tell me who she was. It was the year you were born, Ethan."

The kids both grew quiet, listening attentively.

"She never spent any time around you guys, and she had her reasons for that. She remained my friend during that entire time, until last year when the son she gave up tracked her down. She had to throw herself back into the place that stole memories to protect him. She left behind something for me that I took to restore the memories though. And it didn't just restore the memories of the past eighteen years, but _all_ the memories. I knew she was my sister again…

"I didn't know how to find her, but I _could_ search for her son, my nephew, and your cousin," she said. "So I did. I tracked him until the trail ran cold here, at Mystic Falls."

"So he's the reason we had to pack up everything and leave? Our home? Our school? Our _friends_?" Maya asked with a slight attitude.

"Maya, he's family," Mac said. "And I also hoped to find Seylah because at the time I didn't know about the place that stole memories. I just knew she was missing and I needed to find her."

Maya swallowed and nodded. She understood. The idea of forgetting a sibling was super scary. What if something like that had happened to Ethan? She would hunt him down too.

"Seylah's out of the pit now though," Ethan said. "So you found her."

"What about her son?" Maya asked.

"There's the rub," Mac said. "The place that steals the memories is called Malivore. Except it isn't a place, or at least it wasn't originally created to be a place. Malivore _is_ Landon's father. Landon is your cousin."

The perplexed looks on their faces were familiar as she had been right there before.

"His father sent Seylah back to give birth to Landon so he could grow up and one day his father would rise and take _over_ Landon's body, to use him to launch a new species, the descendants of Malivore...

"So, that's where we're at," Mac breathed out. "Malivore is _in_ Landon. We're trying to find a way to get him out of Landon without killing Landon in the process."

"This is… whoa," Maya said, shocked.

"And the reason I needed to tell you all of this now is because when Malivore rose, the pit or place that he was apart of? It still exists. Malivore can open portals to this place whenever he wants and these monsters can come out of it. When the monsters go back into the pit, everyone who sees them forgets all about them and what happened when they were here."

"Is that what happened with the girl in the woods?" Ethan asked.

"Yes," Mac nodded. "And it's what happened at the school when the windows were shattered and Dennis died."

"So Malivore and these monsters killed Gretchen and Dennis but no one can remember them doing it?" Ethan asked.

"Yes and no," Mac said. "Gretchen, yes, and until last week we had thought the same thing had happened with Dennis too."

"You don't think that now?" Ethan said.

"No," Mac rubbed at her forehead then dropped her hand. "Ethan, honey, in order to trigger your werewolf gene, there's something that has to happen so you turn on your first full moon."

"Okay…?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter if it's an accident…but you have to kill someone," Mac said softly.

Ethan shook his head. "Mom, no. I didn't do that."

"Honey, do you remember anything about what happened that day?" she asked.

"We were having lunch outside and then… next thing I remember Jed and I were on the roof, but we didn't see anything. We _told_ you that when you came to question everyone. We didn't see what happened to Dennis."

"You didn't _remember_ ," Mac said.

Ethan shook his head. "It's not possible."

Mac pulled out her phone and drew up the video Alaric had sent her of that day. "I can't submit this into evidence, and it doesn't show anything that happened on the roof, but this is what happened that day."

The kids both watched the video. Maya's mouth dropped open and Ethan kept shaking his head.

"It doesn't prove anything though," Ethan said. "I didn't kill Dennis. I _didn't_. I _couldn't_ have."

"Ethan, you saw the video. If you were on the roof with those birds attacking, anything could've happened by accident," Mac said. "Dennis's file is closed. We've already listed it as an accidental death. That will _not_ change…

"But you need to know the most basic thing about becoming a wolf because you're going to find out," Mac said. "I'd rather you learn here, from me, and not somewhere else."

Ethan put his head down in his hands and Maya scooted over to rub his back to offer comfort.

"I know it's hard, especially since you can't remember," Mac said. "But you'll get through this. _We'll_ get through this. As a family."

* * *

"Who is it?" was the muffled question asked through the door.

"Doctor Saltzman," Alaric called back.

The door opened and Rafael looked out.

The boy had this perpetual worried look on his face, as if at any given minute he would receive the news that Landon was dead. Alaric had taken him out of the field for his own safety and the safety of everyone else. But without that, Raf was completely out of the loop—a place he wasn't used to, especially when it came to Landon.

"Raf," Alaric said, gesturing to his side. "There's someone I'd like for you to meet."

Rafael's eyes were drawn to the woman standing there, watching him curiously.

"This is Seylah," Alaric said. "Landon's biological mother. She'd like to look through his side of the room."

"Rafael," Seylah said, nodding in greeting. "If you have time, I'd like to ask you some questions as well?"

"Um, okay," Rafael shrugged uncertainly. "Come in." He quickly picked some dirty clothes off the floor and tossed them into his hamper.

"I'll leave you to it," Alaric said, then left.

Seylah walked inside, taking in the room and its lush furnishings. The school provided well for the students, she would give it that.

"This is my son's?" she gestured to the side of the room Rafael wasn't currently occupying.

"Yes," Rafael nodded.

"A musician," she said, noting the guitar.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "He's pretty good. He writes his own stuff some times too."

"So many posters," she observed, looking around before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"He's a bit of a sci-fi buff," he said. "He's seen all the movies. Don't even get him started on Star Wars." He laughed softly.

"And music," he continued. "He's into that indie stuff. I prefer more mainstream, but he's always looking for the stuff no one's ever heard of. Give it a chance, you know?"

"You know him well," Seylah said, rising once more to explore.

Rafael shrugged with a slight laugh. "I should. He's my brother. The only family I have." He had a father now too, but that was so new. Too new to put on the same level as Landon.

"I am glad he has had you," she said.

He nodded.

"Mind if I look through this?" she said, picking up a journal she found on Landon's desk.

"I…why?" he asked protectively. "Why are you here? Why would you even care about him now?"

"My dear boy," Seylah said, sitting down at Landon's desk. "I've always cared about him. In fact, that's the reason I am here now."

"It is?" Rafael asked, surprised.

"I may not be long for this world," she explained. "I'd like to spend that time getting to know my boy as much as possible."

"Better late than never, I guess," Rafael said. "Go ahead."

She nodded and opened the journal but continued to address him. "You can learn a lot about a person by the company they keep. Thank you for answering my questions."

Feeling strangely as if she approved of him, he shifted uncomfortably wondering why it would matter to him at all though it kind of did.

"I'll be over here if you have any others," he said, going back to his desk to work on his last assignment to be completed before the holiday break.

"Thank you."

* * *

She was happy.

Clarke could see Hope practically glowed, surrounded by family and friends.

Earlier, he had been formally introduced to her uncle Kol and his wife when he joined her just as the pair took their leave to settle into their room. Kol hadn't said anything so much as smirked at him. He got the feeling the man wanted to say more but wouldn't in Hope's presence.

He had been starving by then, so Hope had showed him to the kitchen. Her aunt left out a tray of pastries for the guests. Knowing he didn't have a big sweet tooth, she grabbed everything out of the fridge for him to make omelets for the both of them—and Lizzie when the twin followed them and demanded to be fed too.

It was early evening now, dinner had ended a bit ago, and everyone was enjoying the weather outside. Hope and the twin were playing with the child who had recently learned to walk. They were taking turns encouraging him to come to them and turning him around to return to the other.

"Ryan," Freya approached him. "Have you met my brother and his wife? You didn't say much over dinner."

"I have," he nodded. He was still taking everyone's measure and he didn't have much to say at this point. Freya had been busy most of the day, disappearing for quite some time even after MG had returned to the compound, so they were no closer to figuring out a plan to get Landon out of Malivore.

Kol and Davina were relaxing near a small fire pit, far enough away and closed off so the child couldn't get into it. Not like anyone took their eyes off the baby anyway. He seemed to be the center of everyone's attention. Clarke had never spent much time near any children, especially not one that young. He assumed given the child's name that he was named after Hope's father and Freya's brother. He silently wondered if the child would one day live up to that mantle. For now, he was pure innocence, giggling and squealing as he waddled back and forth between his cousin and her friend.

Freya's wife, Keelin, whom he had met before dinner, was sitting off to the other side in her scrubs talking to MG. Apparently she enjoyed the same films as he with a special appreciation for someone named Scarlett. Clarke rarely wasted his time on things like that. His reality was more than enough compared to any made up one and constantly kept him on his toes. Keelin would be leaving again soon for her next evening shift.

Freya looked down at her phone and smiled. "Girls, we have one more guest joining us. She has informed me she'll be here any minute."

"Auntie Bex?" Hope asked, looking up hopefully.

"Not yet," Freya said, smiling at Lizzie. "I see now where you get your persistent attitude from."

"Whose?" Lizzie asked, glancing up.

Hope's eyes got wide, "Wait… you don't mean…"

"You would not _believe_ the traffic out of the airport on a _Tuesday_ night!" Caroline exclaimed, making her grand entrance and carrying a large bag over her arm. "Must be from the holiday."

" _Mom!?_ " Lizzie jumped up and went running.

Hope bounced to her feet too, picking up Nik as she went. Her mouth dropped open and she looked around before pushing the child toward Clarke who was the closest to her. "Hold him!"

He didn't have much option but to take the kid before she went running after Lizzie and her mother.

Holding the child away from him while it kicked its feet in the air, he was wondering how exactly he ended up in this position.

"I've got him," Davina laughed, swooping in to steal her nephew away. She went off, talking baby gibberish to him, while Clarke let out a breath of relief.

Freya laughed. "Let me go greet our newest guest."

Clarke suddenly found himself alone in close proximity to Kol Mikaelson. Keelin and MG were sitting further away and not paying them any attention, too busy watching the reunion across the way.

"Nice work," Kol said. "I'm referring to that lovely display you left in Nebraska."

Clarke didn't bother replying. He didn't need anything from that, least of all approval.

"Behave," Davina warned Kol, passing by with the child on the way to pick up one of his toys.

Kol smirked at her and the child, before regarding Clarke shrewdly. He stood suddenly from his chair.

"You know, being an original vampire, I can't give my wife a child and, believe me, it's _not_ from lack of trying," Kol said with a knowing look. "Freya, she told me all about you."

Clarke nodded slowly. What was the man getting at?

"Be that as it may," Kol said lightly before stepping closer to Clarke, threatening close. "I know how these things work…

"You mess with my niece?"

With lightning speed, he reached down, grabbed Clarke's arm at the elbow, brought his hand up in the air, and slammed his own hand against Clarke's open palm.

"You _protect_ her," Kol said softly which made the threat even more chilling.

Letting go and stepping back, Clarke looked down at the two foil packets in his hand.

"Now's not the time for another miracle baby," Kol said.

Then he took his leave, joining in to greet the latest guest. "Caroline! So lovely to see you again, my sweet."

Clarke quickly shoved his hand in his pocket. Kol was clearly out of his mind. There was _no_ way that was a possibility, even if he _were_ having sex with Hope.

_Was it?_

* * *

"What are you doing here!?" Lizzie asked, hugging her mother tightly.

"Well," Caroline said, hugging her back just as tightly, "I _have_ been spending the better part of two years searching for a way to stop the merge. I decided if you're confident the answers are here, with this Clarke, then this is where I need to be."

"I'm so glad you're here!" Lizzie said, hugging her again.

Hope grinned at the two of them. She hadn't seen Caroline in forever, and while she knew Lizzie had spent the entire summer with her, Hope also knew that life was so much better when your mother was there every single day. Or, would at least be able to get there after a short road trip.

"Also, all your cloak and dagger secretive stuff had me worried," Caroline said.

"There's stuff happening, but it's not important," Lizzie brushed it off. "You're _here_!"

"Hi, Caroline," Hope managed to say sweetly.

"Hope!" Caroline finally noticed her. "Hi, sweetie." She gave her a quick hug too.

"Caroline," Freya said, arriving a moment later. "Glad to see you could make it okay. I'll show you to your room?"

"Later," Caroline said, tossing her bag onto a table. "First, I want to look my child over, and then I want the merge information."

"Shouldn't Josie be here for that?" Hope asked. "And Doctor Saltzman?"

"I _would_ have her astral project," Lizzie said with distaste, pulling out her phone. "But since she rendered herself magic-less, I guess I'll just have to go the old fashioned route and Face Time her. She can get dad to join her."

"Your sister needs time to figure things out," Caroline said, noting Lizzie's disdain for Josie's choice. "Give her time. It's not easy having power you can't control."

Lizzie sighed, knowing her mother was right. It just made her and Josie so off-balanced. If one twin had magic and one twin didn't, what was so twinning about that?

"Caroline!" Kol Mikaelson exclaimed, joining them. "So lovely to see you again, my sweet."

"Kol," Caroline said dismissively.

"Aw, now, don't give me that," he said. He took Caroline's hand and swept their arms out, looking to the girls. "Ladies, Miss Caroline Forbes, the most lovely distraction—to my brother at least."

She pulled her hand back. "That's enough of _that_."

Hope shook her head at her uncle's antics. "I'll get Ryan."

"Good," Lizzie said. "Maybe we'll finally get some answers."

* * *

"So, where'd you get your info?" Caroline asked Clarke.

Clarke felt like he was teaching a class, surrounded by the others paying apt attention to his every word. Hope sat next to him and he could tell she found the whole setup amusing too.

"My father," he answered.

"Malivore _told_ you about the merge?" Lizzie said. "How did _he_ find out?"

"From the creatures he absorbed and tortured," he explained. "They knew things he had no way of ever learning from any other creature. The rest was easy enough to put together."

"Why would he even want to know about the merge?" Josie asked through the phone.

"Because he was intent to learn everything he could about _his_ creators, including the witch in the trio that created him," he revealed.

"You mean…" Hope started.

"The head of the Gemini coven at the time of Malivore's creation was the witch," he confirmed. "Where do you think the whole 'absorption' idea came from? The Gemini twins are forced to absorb each other, just like Malivore absorbs creatures."

"So why did he tell you?" Alaric asked. "Weren't you working against him at some point?"

"Yeah," Lizzie said. "That's why he became a sea of blackness, right?"

"I didn't always," he explained. "For years I followed him and he put up with me. During that time he _did_ reveal things to me."

"Ok," Caroline put a hand up. "We know where you got the info, and why Malivore wanted it, so now I just want to hear about it, please and thank you."

He nodded. "The earth has always had the capacity for magic. In fact, one of the oldest witch covens is the Bennetts. And there are legends of creatures here, dating back eons ago, as you and we have discovered from some of the monsters released from Malivore."

"We know this," Lizzie said impatiently.

"What you _don't_ know is that the Gemini Coven isn't from here, not originally," he said.

"Where the hell are we from then?" Lizzie asked.

"You've referred to Malivore as a hell dimension? Well, that's what it was. Another dimension and it had become its own hell. It was overrun by creatures created by black magic. For centuries, creatures had found their way through the dimensional portal linking there to earth but there hadn't been a significant amount. When the Gemini discovered the portal and were able to escape here, it became apparent more and more creatures were following them…

"They took it upon themselves to create a seal to close the dimensional portal and prevent more from passing through. To stop _this_ world from becoming what they left behind. Only the seal wasn't strong enough to hold forever, not with the way they bound it using earth magic, so they chose to _just this once_ use black magic to bind the seal to the most powerful among them."

"The twins," Caroline said, eyes wide.

He nodded. "They linked the seal to the twin bond itself, knowing that would last so long as the coven did. Only, the magic was too much for them to handle on their own. The black magic had consequences—driving some to insanity though some were able to deal with it—but together they could handle it. From then on, the twins were forced to merge, the stronger one becoming the most dominant, to maintain the seal. This was done by the age of twenty-two before the magic destroyed the mind completely…

"Since there's been no head to the Gemini Coven after your grandfather and uncle died, creatures have been making their way through. Once you merge, the seal will become intact again."

"So…we're, like, protectors of Earth?" Lizzie said, a bit amazed and excited.

"Lizzie," Josie said quietly with that look of hers that said she wasn't paying attention to the important part.

Lizzie realized, "That means we _have_ to merge. There's no getting around it."

"Pretty much," Clarke confirmed.

"What the hell, Universe!?" Lizzie exclaimed, smacking her hand on the table.

"Even with the seal in place though, that doesn't prevent witches already here from using black magic to create more creatures, does it?" Hope asked. "Werewolves and vampires being the most obvious."

"This sounds so ridiculous," Caroline put her hands through her hair, resisting the urge to tear it all out. "Another _world_? A dimensional portal? What kind of sci-fi crap _is_ this?"

"Think about it," Clarke said. "How do you think they came up with the idea for a prison world? And why keep Kai Parker alive? He killed _how_ many of his brothers and sisters before they stopped him? He didn't deserve to live and he was too dangerous to allow _to_ live and yet they decided to imprison him instead of killing him. Why?"

"Because they needed a backup," Josie realized. "In case something happened to the next set of twins. They couldn't afford to kill him and risk leaving the seal unprotected."

"Exactly," Clarke answered. "Plus, since he remained twenty-two and his sister put away her magic, it didn't drive her insane."

"So, that's why Malivore was created," Hope realized. "To clean up the mess from the creatures coming through before the portal was sealed."

"Yes," he said. "They just didn't realize how out of their control he would get. There's always consequences for using black magic. They knew that, and still they used it. But witches, especially the twins, have never been known to resist the darkness very well."

"Thanks for that," Josie said sarcastically.

He shrugged.

Lizzie shook her head, tapping her foot incessantly. "No, no, no. That can't just be it. What about a loophole? Nature _always_ has a loophole. Where's _my_ loophole?!"

No one had an answer.

"Besides the creatures who had passed through and were tortured to reveal the truth of where they came from and why they couldn't get back, only the elders in the Coven knew the truth—passing the information down to those that proved trustworthy. Even the merged twins wouldn't learn the truth until it was deemed appropriate," he continued.

"Why?" Lizzie asked.

"Can you imagine what Kai would've done with that information?" Hope answered for him. "He probably would've wanted to destroy the seal completely."

"This is also why, with their dying breath, the entire coven performed the spell to save Lizzie and Josie," Alaric said. "It's why saving the twins were so important."

Caroline covered her mouth, trying to hold the emotions in. She had been so determined. She was going to find a way to save her girls. She was _so_ positive. But now…

Lizzie reached out and grasped her mother's arm. "It'll be okay, Mom. We're not the first to merge. It probably won't be that bad." She lied, but she knew there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

They were born to protect the world.

At least MG might get a sci-fi boner out of it.

* * *

Hope told her aunt that Lizzie was going to stay in her room with her while MG would crash on the floor.

She knew Lizzie wanted to talk, but when she had left her room with a change of clothes for the next morning, she was talking to MG and didn't seem to mind that Hope was leaving to sleep elsewhere.

Caroline left soon after Ryan's talk. She _had_ planned to stay, but once she knew the truth she wanted to head home to Mystic Falls to see Josie. Hugging only one daughter wasn't enough for her. She needed to hold the other one too, knowing that there really wasn't enough time now.

Arriving at Ryan's room, she didn't bother knocking, just let herself in.

"Hey," he said, already in bed, working away at his sketchpad.

Holding a finger to her mouth, she shushed him before casting a spell. " _Auditus obstructionum_."

"Okay, you can talk now," she said.

"What was that for?"

"Vampires," she said. "They hear everything. I'd rather my uncle _not_ hear what's happening in here."

"I second that," he said.

"That was some story," she said, putting her clothes on top of the dresser and coming around to her usual side. "Thank you for telling them."

"A deal's a deal," he said simply.

"I don't know what they're going to do now," she said as she crawled under the covers. "I mean, they're my best friends. I like them as two though. Maybe since we know now, we'll have time to figure something else out before they get old enough?"

"Good luck with that," he said. "Seems pretty impossible to me."

"Aren't you supposed to be encouraging?" she asked.

"Have you met me?" he asked.

"Sometimes I wonder…" she said mysteriously.

She knew he would just take it as a joke, but she actually meant it. After her talk with Lizzie that morning, her mind was still reeling. She had worried before that he would have more experience than her, but if he had _that_ much experience, she probably couldn't compare. Maybe she should do more to please _him_? She hadn't really thought about it before, but she could try to do _some_ thing.

She reached for him and kissed him suddenly. He immediately returned the kiss while moving his sketchpad to his nightstand.

Fortunately, he had already removed his shirt, so when she pulled away from his mouth and began kissing her way down his neck to his chest, the path was clear.

He tried to remember to breathe while she explored with her mouth and hands. She had clearly been taking pointers from him because she bit at and licked at all the right spots.

She was actually enjoying herself. She had never taken the lead like this, just gave him permission to do what he wanted. She loved tracing the light muscles of his stomach with her fingertips before following the same path with her mouth.

Her hands slid further down his stomach and she stopped at his pants. She hesitated, and she could've sworn she felt him catch his breath too.

She considered but in the end she couldn't do it. Not like this. Not for _that_ reason.

She didn't need to prove anything to him. He was the one who said he wanted her. She had let this stupid stuff get into her head and everything had been twisted.

She pulled away and shakily moved to her side of the bed, careful not to touch him again.

"Hey," he turned to her, noting the shaking. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice raspy from tears she didn't want to shed at feeling so overwhelmed. "I'm sorry I'm not ready. I know you're probably used to something different. Probably want something more. But I can't. Not yet."

"Hope," he ran a hand through her hair, wondering where this was coming from. " _You're_ everything I've ever wanted. I want what _you_ want. I don't need anything else."

Breathing out her relief, she turned back to him and was grateful when he pulled her against him, comforting her even though he was probably confused. She had never done this before, been insecure with him. She just needed to forget about his past. Eight hundred years was a long time, and while he may have slept with countless women in that time, _she_ was the one he wanted to be with now.

She was going to strangle Lizzie tomorrow for doing this to her.

Trying merging with Josie after _that_.


	26. I Didn't Know You Cared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Conjuring an enormous fireball, she unleashed it on the advancing giant of a roaring creature covered in fur the color of the snow it had clawed its way out of to get to her.

Watching the creature go up in flames, she decided it was time for lunch. Clarke _had_ said with this new setup she could stop to have lunch whenever she wanted and then go back to fight.

She loved this place. They had only arrived yesterday, but she felt great about the next few weeks. Clarke's plan was better than she ever thought possible. Lizzie was right, letting him lead for once, _trusting_ him, was a great idea.

"I'm starving!" she said, entering through the door that led directly into the kitchen.

"Good because lunch is ready," he said, indicating the stove. "Burgers."

"A mud man after my own heart," she teased, taking her coat off and heading straight for the stove.

"If I knew it was that easy…"

She rolled her eyes and brushed off his comment. "So, what was that?" She pulled out a roll and loaded it up.

"A yeti," he said. He sat down with his plate but waited for her to finish putting her meal together to start.

"You mean, like, an Abominable Snowman?" she asked, coming to join him. "So they _do_ exist."

He laughed. "Yes, yes they do."

As he launched into a story about capturing a yeti with Triad, she listened attentively, enjoying having lunch with him.

Everything got misty, foggy, and she knew what he was saying only because she had lived it before. This was a memory of their second day in Wyoming. She had nearly forgotten that burger detail. No wonder he made them for her so often after that. _Was_ it really _his_ favorite food? She would have to ask him.

The dream changed suddenly and she was prowling through the snow, running as fast as her paws would carry her. The ground beneath her feet was visible only by the light of the full moon over head. At some point, she, the hunter, felt a change in the air, and she became the hunted.

With renewed effort, she raced through the snow capped mountain side, not knowing who or what was in pursuit of her, only knowing that if she stopped she was done for.

Spotting a break in the trees ahead, she dashed for it but came to a halt when she saw a snow covered clearing with a giant mound of a grave laid out in front of her. The gravestone shone tall and proud in the moonlight.

Feeling a presence near, she tensed, her fur standing on end.

Fenrir, child of Loki, appeared next to her, just as frightening in death and in her dreams as he was when she fought him in real life.

"The gods are pleased," he spoke to her in a low gravely growl.

She lowered her snout to the ground in acknowledgement.

"The littlest wolf won't be alone," he finished with a deep rumble.

Snarling, he disappeared into the dark as swiftly as he had arrived.

She knew better than to follow. 

Turning away instead, she headed back towards the house, towards Ryan.

As she walked, she realized she wasn't in wolf form anymore and the snow was melting around her.

Onward she went, until she came upon a familiar sight.

Mystic Falls' town square at night. The clock tower read a minute to midnight.

She glanced around taking in the empty benches, the trees, and the phone booth Clarke must've called her from moments before his death.

Then she saw him, standing by the portal that was still open, preparing to jump. She saw the figure, hooded in red, advancing behind him with a sword.

She attempted to run, to call out a warning, anything to prevent what was about to happen, but the dream held her back. All she could do was watch what had transpired that night.

The Necromancer cut off his head and it fell into the pit, sealing the portal shut.

While she couldn't run, she _could_ fall to her knees. Knowing, even in her dream, that this wasn't a premonition, it still scared her. It made her fear all the things that could've been.

Watching Ted and Chad take what was left of the fake body away, she knew… that wasn't the end. He was linked to her. That was the very night he found his way into her dreams, into her subconscious.

That night was the true beginning. Of everything.

Images flashed. The memories, the dreams… of dancing at her family's Christmas Ball, opening up to him about her father, worrying about him, his attempts to comfort her, his encouraging her to push the boundaries of her powers. Her realizing she cared about him as a friend. His showing up to rescue her. His being there every single day.

The memory of him promising to never leave her alone flashed through her mind—and then all the ways he kept that promise.

How he never kept his feelings for her hidden. How the only thing he had ever asked of her was that she gave him a chance. All he wanted was her and to experience what it felt like to be with her knowing she returned his feelings. He didn't even ask for forever, he only asked for right now.

Memories flashed still, of the time when he told her that _she_ was his purpose. Of their first kiss and all the ways they had expressed their feelings for each other intimately since. With every touch, caress, and request for permission, he showed her how important she was to him.

She dreamt of the way his gaze alone could set her insides on fire, of how his touch could make her melt into his embrace, of how right his kiss felt. It was just like coming home. It _always_ felt like coming home. Like he was home. Like he was _her_ home.

And she never wanted to leave home again.

* * *

When she woke, she was feeling much better than she had the night before. She felt silly that she let something like that get to her. There was no reason for her to ever feel insecure with him. He had never given  _any_ reason to indicate he wasn't one hundred percent with her. Whatever happened in the past really  _didn't_ matter.

Glancing over, she saw he had decided to sleep with her again. She was glad. It gave her time to look him over without him staring back, something she had never been able to do before. He looked almost innocent in his sleep with his face relaxed, his long lashes brushing his cheeks. She smiled to herself knowing how untrue that was.

No one would ever accuse him of being innocent. He was purpose driven, paranoid, and gave as good as he got. He was about as far from patient, trusting, and kind as one could get—but only with everyone else. With her, he was perfection. He always took care of her and went _patiently_ at her pace in all things intimate. While she may not be ready to go all the way, or take him in hand yet, she knew she _was_ ready for more though. She wanted more.

And she wanted it now.

She slid closer to him and kissed him awake, enjoying the moment his eyes opened and he gave her a look of adoration to rival the one her uncle gave her aunt yesterday. That easy smile of his slid into place and he immediately returned her kiss.

Smiling into his kiss, she smoothly and deliberately moved her right leg over top of him, sliding until she shifted up and was straddling him across his lap.

He gently held onto her face, pulling her away from him.

"Only what _you_ want," he reminded her.

"I want this. I want _you_ ," she said before she went back to kissing him as she slid her body up a bit further until she was pressed right against him. She had the thought that all of this, everything that they did together, she couldn't imagine _ever_ doing it with anyone else.

Moaning into her kiss, he arched against her. He reached his hands down to her hips, breathing out a question against her mouth, a barely audible "May I?"

"Uh huh," she murmured back.

He slid his hands past her hips, down to grasp her behind, and pulled her more firmly against him. She moaned down into his mouth and rubbed herself against him.

He let her do that for as long as he could stand it, all the while stroking his fingers against her bottom with each movement. He had been worried about maintaining control once they went below the waist. This wasn't what he had in mind, but he was very okay with it even though the results were the same. That pesky control.

Eventually he had to move his hands back to her hips to hold her still.

"Ryan?" she asked, wondering why he was stopping.

"Time to get up," he said. He couldn't do this much longer, not with her like that. He was quickly losing control and he didn't know how she would feel about it.

"I _am_ up."

He jerked up again with a push of his hips that had her gasping out her pleasure in surprise, but he flipped her over to her back and raised himself above her.

"Glad to see you're doing _much_ better this morning. But save that for tonight," he kissed her. "Not now when your family might start looking for you and discover you're not where you belong."

Sighing, she knew he was right. It was already getting late. "Okay."

"I'm gonna shower," he pulled away and left her a little too quickly, not caring if she noticed. He had a problem that desperately needed to be taken care of.

* * *

Lizzie stared at the ceiling, contemplating her circumstances.

"One day closer," she announced loudly.

"Hmm. Huh?" came the answering reply from somewhere in vicinity of the floor at the foot of the bed.

MG struggled to wake up, Lizzie's voice dragging him unceremoniously out of his dreams.

"We're one day closer to the end," she said again.

"The end of what?" he asked, rolling onto his back on the floor, pillows propped up under his head, and stared at the ceiling too.

"My life," she said dramatically. "Less than five years now. Guess it's a good thing I don't have a five year plan! Oh wait, I do."

"Lizzie…"

"Graduate high school, travel all of Europe—not backpacking, mind you, I'm way too civilized for hostels. Go to college, experiment—because what else does one do in college but try new things?—have a stereotypical college boyfriend who I inevitably have to let go of because of way too much partying with his frat brothers. Eventually figuring out for sure what I want to do once I graduate, and—oh yeah, the best part? I graduate from college. Yay!" she said with false enthusiasm. "And then, well, by then I would have another plan in place. That's what Mom always says. No matter what's happening around you or inside you, find something you have control of and just _focus_ on that. Focus until the pieces start to make sense again…. But now?...

"All of that planning was for nothing," she finished morosely.

"You can still have all of that," he said. "There's still time."

She scoffed. "But none of it will matter. What's the point of graduating high school or going to college when I'm just going to be shoved to the back of a merged being to exist for the rest of my days? Shouldn't I be off sky diving or something?"

"Do you _want_ to sky dive?" he asked. "Because that could be cool."

"Not the point, MG," she said.

"Right, no sky diving," he agreed immediately. It was still a great idea.

"It's not just that though," she said. "How do I pack everything I've ever wanted to do with my life into the next five years?"

She laughed dryly. "I guess the whole having kids thing is out. To be real, I'm not even sure I ever wanted any, but I really hate having my choice taken away."

"I'm with you there," he said.

She paused at that, then realized. "I'm being selfish again, aren't I? Thinking only about myself. Darn, and I was trying _really_ hard not to do that anymore."

"Hey," he rolled over and sat up so he could look over the foot of the bed at her. "You just found out some hard truths last night about your future. You're allowed to wallow."

She rose up on her elbows and looked down at him sharply. "Is that what you think I'm doing? Wallowing?"

He smiled with his teeth, knowing that look on her face. "You know what I think would be a great idea right now? Breakfast. Let's go and see what Hope is doing!" He immediately got up and went to find some clothes so he could shower.

She plopped back down on the bed, glaring at the ceiling. "I bet _she's_ not wallowing."

* * *

"It _could_ work, right?" Hope asked.

Freya considered as she cut up the sweet potatoes.

"The spell to remove The Hollow from you was for her power which included her consciousness so in theory, _yes_ ," Freya nodded. "It would probably be a stronger spell than needed for Malivore though."

"But if it works to get him out of Landon, who cares how strong it is, as long as it works, right?" Hope asked.

"You still have to answer that age old question of _where_ to put him," Freya said, putting the potatoes into the boiling water. "You can't just put him back into the pit, not if it's become a hell dimension. That would be like trying to put him into the atmosphere on earth. It just won't work."

Hope rested her chin on her fist, at a loss for the moment.

She had followed Freya into the kitchen and left Ryan to his own devices. Namely, he was trying to figure out a way to get his hands on some artillery now that all of his weapons had been left to burn in Wyoming.

"And, I think the spell could use some changes too, just to make it more specific," Freya said.

"You'll help me with it?" Hope asked. She had been using her magic more and more without the help of a spell, but she knew how precise this needed to go. There could be no room for error.

"Of course," Freya said, prepping a glass dish for the potatoes.

"Thank you," Hope said. "Though this all hinges on whether we can actually _find_ Malivore now that he's gotten so much stronger."

"Figure out the how first," Freya said, bringing the other ingredients needed for the sweet potato soufflé to sit next to the dish until the potatoes were ready to mash. "Then worry about the where."

Hope nodded just as she heard a commotion in the courtyard. "What is that?" She looked in that direction.

"More like, _who_ ," Freya said with a happy little smile. "I believe my sister has finally made her arrival."

Hope grinned and immediately took off.

"Aunt Bex!" she called out while running to the courtyard.

"Well, now there's a sight for these travel weary eyes," Rebekah said, sweeping her arms out for the speeding tribrid.

People were streaming throughout the courtyard. Clarke eyed them warily from the balcony.

Hope would've bowled her aunt over on contact, but the blonde was too strong for that.

"I've missed you too, my sweet. Now come along, I've brought presents!"

Hope finally noticed there were a few people carrying trunks and garment bags upstairs, presumably in the direction of Rebekah's room. "Really? _All_ of that?"

"I know," Rebekah said with a sigh. "I wanted to buy more, but Marcel insisted I leave some for others. I don't understand _why_? I mean, my niece must be suffering something fierce for the latest fashions since we didn't get our annual summer trip this year."

"I was a little busy…" Hope said.

"Being erased from existence, I know," Rebekah tossed her hair back. "Time to remedy that."

Hope looked over and saw Lizzie who _clearly_ wanted to speak up and was about to. "Lizzie, this is my Aunt Bex."

"An absolute _pleasure_ ," Lizzie said, coming immediately forward.

Rebekah looked her up and down. "My gosh, you are a tall one aren't you? Never you mind, I'm sure we'll find you something."

"I think this is my favorite one," Lizzie said as an aside to Hope.

"And you might be my favorite of Hope's friends," Rebekah said as she put an arm around Hope to lead her away and up to her rooms. "Course, you're the only one I've met so…" she shrugged.

"Now, tell me," the blonde continued. "Is that handsome fella over there," she nodded to indicate Clarke who had relaxed somewhat though he stared down from the balcony still, "the suitor you've brought home to meet the family?"

Lizzie practically snorted at that and Hope flushed. "That's… Ryan." She noticed he had asked each member of her family to call him Ryan and not Clarke, so she didn't think Rebekah would be any different.

"Oh, he _is_ yummy," Rebekah said, looking back at him over Hope's shoulder.

Lizzie cracked up while Hope grabbed Rebekah's arm. "Aunt Rebekah!"

"He does look like he's preparing to attack though," she said. "What's got him so bloody worried?"

"Probably all these people walking through the house?" Hope said. "He's very suspicious of everyone."

"Oh, psh," Rebekah brushed off her words. "Just tell him they've been compelled. They won't remember any of this."

"Right," Hope nodded gladly. "So, where is Marcel?"

"Catching up with Kol," Rebekah said. "Or, rather, Davina. You know, I don't think he's ever approved of my brother for her. But Kol did change for the better with her. So I say, pish posh. Let love live!"

Hope shook her head. Same old Aunt Rebekah.

She was so glad to see her.

* * *

"Freya!" Rebekah called out when her sister entered her room. "About time you joined us girls."

Hope and Lizzie were each going through a trunk of clothing, sweeping out outfit after outfit to look over and hang on the racks that were placed throughout the room for that very reason.

"There's a lot of things to prepare for tomorrow," Freya said.

"Bugger that," Rebekah said, unzipping a garment bag. "Imagine traveling and cooking incessantly for this inane holiday. Pilgrims _slaughtered_ the Indians. But there were plenty of other slaughters that were much more noteworthy—ones that _I_ happen to be apart of. But is there a national holiday for any of _those_? No. Bloody waste of a celebration, if you ask me."

"Hence the reason we rarely celebrate this one," Hope said to Lizzie.

"Well," Freya cleared her throat. "I'm glad you could make it, sister dear." She sat on the edge of the bed, watching the girls enjoy themselves and pick out things to try on.

"Hope, I meant to ask, for the menu tomorrow, is there something specific Ryan would like?" Freya asked.

Hope laughed. "He'll eat anything _and_ everything. Whatever you make, just be sure to have plenty of it."

"Quite the appetite then?" Rebekah said knowingly. "Must really enjoy the day."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure this is his first time celebrating Thanksgiving," Hope said.

"Oh, Freya," Rebekah said with a smirk. "Perhaps you still have baby's first Thanksgiving bib somewhere?"

Lizzie snickered. "Have I mentioned I like her?" she said to Hope.

"So, is that the only place his appetite lies," Rebekah asked slyly.

Hope knew her face turned beet-red. "Oh my God, Aunt Rebekah!"

"That's still up for debate," Lizzie interjected.

Hope smacked her arm.

"Judging by where you've been spending your nights, I'd like to know the answer to that question as well," Freya said pointedly.

Hope froze. "I-I-I…"

"Freya, I think we've teased the girl enough," Rebekah said as an aside to her sister.

"I'm sorry?" Hope said apologetically, swallowing past the panic.

Freya nodded. "You're eighteen. A woman in your own right. You make your own decisions now, which you've really been doing for a few years anyway. I still see you as my high school aged niece. Just be careful."

Hope nodded in return, knowing there wasn't anything to be careful about. Ryan would never hurt her.

"So does this mean my little niece isn't so innocent anymore or not?" Rebekah asked, disgruntled.

"Oh, she definitely still is," Lizzie said, smirking.

Hope busied herself with the dresses once again. Why was her sex life, or lack thereof, the topic up for discussion? She racked her brain for another topic but was too flustered to think of one.

Lizzie glanced at her phone, feeling the buzz of an incoming message. "Crap. There's been another murder."

"A witch?" Hope asked.

"Yeah," Lizzie said. "Dad said it happened last night. Same M-O. Tortured before killed."

"I hope this wasn't because Malivore can't find me and Ryan," Hope said, suddenly worried.

"Well, if it was, he still can't find you two for now," Freya said. "And remember, he killed witches even when he _could_ find you. I don't think the two are related."

"Maybe we shouldn't be here," Hope said. "Maybe we should be making our way back to Mystic Falls."

"Not when you don't have a plan," Freya said. "There's no use trying to fight him without a plan. You all could be killed."

"Right," Hope said, worrying her bottom lip.

"Besides, I'm not too anxious to get back to fighting all those monsters yet," Lizzie said, shuddering.

"Aw, you just really need to tear into them," Rebekah said. "I could do with ripping things apart, especially if they intend to hurt my niece. I believe your Ryan has the right of it."

"How so?" Hope asked.

"You know," Rebekah said. "Tearing those bodies apart in Nebraska. Bloody mess but bloody poetic if you ask me."

Hope looked down, finally understanding. When Ryan went back to take care of those demon bodies, he must've taken out all of his rage on them. She hadn't gotten her own rage out until a day later. But, she had done it much the same way—in killing and slaughtering countless monsters.

"Hope," Freya asked, noticing her niece's look of surprise before she grew quiet. "Didn't you know what he did?"

Hope shrugged, still looking down as she straightened the hem of a top hanging up. "I would've done the same thing. I'd have rather they be alive for it though."

"You don't say?" Rebekah was impressed. "I never knew my niece to be so bloodthirsty."

"They deserved it," Hope said firmly. "Besides, I've killed over a hundred more since then. Some who didn't deserve it. _Those_ did. It's just what I've had to do."

"It's been a rough semester," Lizzie excused her to her aunts.

Freya sighed, resigned to the knowledge that Hope took after the rest of the family more than she realized.

Rebekah clapped her hands. "Enough of this gloom and doom! How about we take your friends out on the town for lunch? Have any of them experienced New Orleans? Lizzie?"

"I haven't," Lizzie said, perking up.

"What about Ryan, Hope?" she asked.

"He hasn't. Not with me anyway," she said, wondering if now was a good time for that.

"I really need to work on everything for tomorrow," Freya said pointedly.

"Then you stay here," Rebekah replied. "Marcel and I will take the kids out."

"I'll get Ryan then," Hope said, reluctantly.

"I'll get MG!" Lizzie said.

Hope really hoped this was a good idea.

* * *

Rebekah watched over them as they walked through the French Quarter, pleased as the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves.

She hadn't liked seeing her niece the way she was earlier despite her smile, looking like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She was much too young to be worrying about such things. She may be eighteen, but she was still a child. She should be out having fun with her girlfriends and dating the cutest boy at school. Much like Rebekah wished she had been able to do as a girl but couldn't. Much like Rebekah hoped a child of hers and Marcel's would be able to do years from now when they could finally take the cure and grow old together.

Rebekah was glad she could give that to her niece, if only for a few hours. Admittedly, this boy was far from an actual _boy_ and had probably never set foot in a school room, but he made Hope happy.

She could see it as Hope grasped his hand and led him off to watch the various artists lining the street, creating colorful works of art on a simple canvas.

Rebekah walked over to one of the better ones and whispered a request before pressing a wad of cash into his palm. The artist in question immediately began drawing, looking up at the couple across the way. She gave him the compound's address to have the painting delivered later.

"Oooh," Lizzie said, going to look at a jewelry stall along the walk. "Wouldn't these look so good on me?" She held up a pair of earrings for MG to comment on.

"Yep," MG nodded, before looking back at the vampires he noticed earlier, some staring at them curiously. "You know, there are a _lot_ more vampires out here than I would've thought."

"How can you tell?" she asked, putting the earrings down and moving on to look through the necklaces.

"Daylight rings," he said. "Hey, Marcel!"

Marcel, who had been looking on the other side of the stall for something that might interest his wife, glanced over. "Yes?"

"Why are there so many vampires around?" MG asked. "And why do I feel like they're watching us?"

"This is New Orleans," Marcel replied. "The French Quarter is home to all three factions—witches, werewolves, _and_ vampires. They always keep an eye on the happenings. Don't mind them. You're with me. They know you're no threat."

Marcel gave the vampires in question a short nod, knowing they had heard their conversation.

"If you want, I can introduce you to them later," Marcel said. "They host some of the best parties, especially for young vampires to, you know, get a taste of New Orleans."

"Uh…" MG was suddenly unsure of what he was being offered.

"Not gonna happen," Lizzie said, butting into the conversation and shutting it down. "MG here is a ripper. You probably don't want to unleash that on your precious city."

"Ah, I see," Marcel nodded. "Yeah, that probably wouldn't go over so well with the locals."

MG sheepishly looked away, taking in the other vendors.

"No wonder Freya has a vat of cow blood in the fridge," Marcel said. "I did wonder if she was trying to reform us."

"Nope," Lizzie shook her head. "But then, all the vampires at school eat that or bunny blood or whatever. It's nothing new for them."

"Huh," Marcel said. "So what happens when you're around actual human blood?"

"Don't ask," MG said.

"We're working on that," Lizzie said. "He'll learn to control himself…eventually."

"I see," Marcel looked back and forth between the two. "You two make a cute couple. Reminds me of Rebekah and myself a long time ago."

"That's not—" MG started.

"We're _not_ a couple," Lizzie said firmly.

"That's right," MG nodded. "Just friends."

"Right," Marcel laughed to himself.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at his apparent lack of belief in her words and wandered away to look at the other craft stalls.

MG shrugged and went to follow her, but Marcel stopped him.

"Yes?" MG looked up.

Marcel nodded down at the table, "Get the earrings."

"Uh," MG looked down at the ones Lizzie had been holding. "Why?"

"Because she _wanted_ them, MG," Marcel said. "She wouldn't have asked if you liked them if she didn't. Get them. Trust me."

"Um, but…" MG wasn't really talking to his mother though she kept paying for his school. She didn't, however, give him much of an allowance anymore and he didn't have a job. So, no, he didn't have any money and he couldn't buy the earrings. He didn't really want to explain that to Marcel though. The guy seemed cool.

Marcel understood immediately and smiled before looking up at the vendor. "We'll take the earrings and that necklace with the rose over there," he nodded to where he was standing before MG called him over. "Wrap them separately," he said, paying for both items.

"You don't—" MG tried to stop him.

"Yes, I do," Marcel said, handing off the smaller package to him. "You've got a long road ahead with that one. But if you want her, don't give up. Eventually she'll come around."

MG nodded, but he wasn't so sure that would ever happen.

Despite constant thoughts of the impending fight weighing on her mind, Hope was having a good time. Her aunt had wasted no time in gathering everyone together to head out into the city.

When Ryan had taken her hand as they left the compound, she melted a little as she realized this was the first time they had made a connection of any sort in front of anyone else. He had probably did it to keep her close since they would be surrounded by so many people; but, to her, it was more of a declaration to anyone that saw them—including her family—that they were together.

And she didn't mind it one bit.

Wandering the endless stalls along the street, she was immediately drawn to the art work. The boundless melting pot of culture was on display as it had been the countless times she had visited the city before. Growing up, she had spent her time away from school here with her mother and aunt. It was only after her parents passed away that she spent less time in the city. She still stayed with Aunt Freya on most of her school breaks, but it just wasn't the same.

Now, though, she felt like she was seeing it all with new eyes as she showed Ryan some of her favorite things about the city.

"I can't believe you've never been here before," Hope said. "I'd have thought you'd been everywhere by now."

"I always hunted those who _weren't_ the protected species, remember?" he said. "And this city was overrun by them."

"Very true," she laughed. "There's been peace here for some time, but it definitely hasn't always been that way."

"Judging by how everyone keeps regarding our group, I'd say the Mikaelsons disrupted the peace here quite a bit," he said.

"True," she agreed. "But my family is on their best behavior. They'll stop eyeing them once they realize that." Fortunately, it was only Rebekah and Marcel with them as Kol and Davina had gone to visit Josh' grave. She knew Aunt Davina always visited his grave when she was in town.

 _Except they weren't eyeing her family members as much as they were eyeing_ her _,_ Clarke thought. He didn't like it, but at least there wasn't anything threatening about the looks. These people were curious, as if they knew who she was but wanted to know something more. What? He didn't know.

"Ryan, my dear," Rebekah said, coming up and wrapping an arm around Hope's shoulders. "We're all heading towards Bourbon Street. Go on and catch up with them. I'm stealing my niece away for a moment."

Clarke didn't want to go on ahead though. He wanted to stay right there with her. Caution aside, he actually _did_ enjoy holding her hand for all the world to see. He had practically forgotten they weren't exploring alone, content as he was to spend time with her.

"Go on now," Rebekah shooed him away. "I was this darling girl's first ever protector. No harm shall befall her in the time you spend apart." Hope giggled at her aunt's amused sarcasm, leaning against her and the arm wrapped around her.

"Also, a tribrid," Hope pointed out.

Clarke nodded, tight lipped, as the women walked off together.

He went to follow after the rest of the group, with them, but not really joining them, and kept looking back over his shoulder at Hope.

"Relax," Marcel said with an easy smile, falling back from the other two and putting a tight arm around Clarke's shoulders as they walked to keep him at his pace and focused on the conversation, not Hope and Rebekah. "Ryan, right?"

Clarke nodded, feeling a bit wary as most people didn't approach him like that. The ones who did weren't usually looking to be friendly. But this was essentially Hope's brother, as she said, so he would take it with only mild annoyance.

"You haven't said much, but we _have_ heard a lot about you," Marcel said, giving his shoulder a friendly double pat before pulling away. "The siblings, they talk. Just because we don't see Hope that often, doesn't mean we don't talk to her or about her."

"No one's tried to take my head off, so I guess what you've heard isn't all bad," Clarke said.

Marcel let out a laugh. "Oh, if any of it were bad, you'd be strung up in the dungeons beneath the compound right now wishing you'd never heard the name Mikaelson."

Realizing that easy smile of Marcel's didn't mean he was easy going, Clarke wondered if they knew about his first meetings with Hope. That wasn't something Hope had mentioned to Freya when they were playing catch-up the other night, so they couldn't possibly know what he tried to do to her before he became friends with her. Evidently they must not, as he was still allowed to walk about New Orleans and breath the same air as her.

"She likes you," Marcel continued. "A lot. We all can tell. And you like her, we're not blind."

"You'd be correct."

"So, this might not _need_ to be said, but I'll say it anyway," the vampire said. "If you ever hurt her, I'll be _glad_ that you can't die, because that'll mean I'll get to rip you apart over and over again," he said gleefully. "And then _again_ however many times I feel so inclined."

"That won't be necessary," Clarke said, understanding this was the part where the 'big brother' warned that if he hurt his sister, he would hurt him in return.

"I didn't think so," Marcel said with that smile again. "Thanks for looking after her. She's powerful, but she still needs help sometimes whether she'd admit it or not."

"Thanks also isn't necessary," Clarke replied.

"But it's being freely given," Marcel said. "So take it…

"That's the place," Marcel called out to the two in front of them, pointing across and down the street. "Bourbon House. I hope you guys like seafood. That's what it's known for. You'll love it."

Marcel and Clarke followed them, with Clarke only looking back once to make sure Hope and Rebekah were still near. They were.

"So!" Rebekah said, linking her arm with her niece's. "Is he the one?"

"The _one_?" Hope asked, eyes lit up and laughing. "It's a little too soon to determine that, isn't it?"

"I don't know," her aunt said. "You tell me."

"I mean, I thought before that someone was…but I think everything was just so new… and I pushed too much for him to be _the one_ ," Hope said thoughtfully. "But obviously I was wrong. I mean, how could I wind up having feelings for Ryan if the other one _was_ the one, right?"

Rebekah considered her words. "You know, I _love_ love. It's gotten me into a fair bit of trouble through the years though, I'll give it that. But to find someone who looks at you as if you're the only person in the world, and to feel the same towards them? It's one of the greatest gifts of all, the capacity to love."

"That's kind of really beautiful," Hope said, smiling softly.

"In fact, the worst part for me about falling in love with someone was seeking my family's approval. My brother, Nik, never cared for any of my suitors."

"Do you think he would've liked Ryan?" Hope asked.

Rebekah smiled on the inside, the question revealed a lot more than Hope might think it had.

"I've heard his story thus far. He's very resilient," Rebekah said. "And very much like your father in seeking approval from _his_ father while experiencing his rejection."

Rebekah stopped for a moment and turned to her.

"To answer your question, I think Nik would want you to be happy. If _that_ boy makes you happy, then yes, he would approve," she answered firmly.

"Thank you," Hope said, glad to get an opinion from someone who had known her father long enough to know his thoughts on the matter.

"He clearly adores you," Rebekah said as they resumed walking.

"He does," Hope nodded. There wasn't any reason to deny it. The look of adoration on his face that morning had screamed it loudly enough to her.

"So, how do you feel about him? I mean, _really_?"

"I don't know…" Hope trailed off, staring at him talking to Marcel in the distance. "I think that…maybe, one day… I _could_ love him."

"What's holding you back? Is he the one or not?"

"Aunt Bex," Hope eyed her. "You and I both know that just being in a relationship with someone doesn't mean you'll be together forever." Hope had only just realized that, but she was certain it was true.

"You're right, of course," Rebekah sighed deeply. "I certainly had to kiss a lot of toads before my prince was revealed."

"Speaking of kissing toads, did Freya tell you this story..."

* * *

"So, all the wolves here are triggered?" Ethan asked.

He was visiting the Salvatore school once again, hanging out with Jed. After learning how his curse was triggered, he was leaning even more towards switching schools.

"Yeah," Jed nodded. "An un-triggered wolf doesn't have powers yet, so it would be more dangerous for them coming here."

Ethan understood that. And it was oddly comforting knowing that he wasn't the only one there who had killed someone. Though, he guessed it depended on how it happened.

"How did you do it? Trigger your curse?" Ethan asked.

Jed didn't want to answer that. "It's kind of personal."

"Oh," Ethan said shortly. He was disappointed. Not that he _needed_ to know how Jed triggered his curse, but he thought since he was one of his best friends he would tell him. It wasn't like Ethan knew the true story behind his own curse.

Jed stopped walking and looked away. "Look, I used to be alpha here. I became alpha on purpose so I could insist all new wolves told their story to the pack. The best part was, I didn't have to tell mine. I don't like to tell it."

"Was it that bad?"

"Doctor Saltzman won't allow any wolf at the school who killed in cold blood," Jed said. "Most of us killed someone by accident. Me included."

"If it was an accident, then it must not've been that bad," Ethan reassured him.

Jed coughed and looked around. "I was kind of young when I triggered mine."

"How young?"

"Middle school," Jed said. "I was a dick. Still am sometimes. My parents were never home, raised by my grandmother, and I acted out a lot. I tripped a kid who pissed me off—I don't even remember why. He fell, hit his head, and yep. That did it."

"Did you know you were a wolf?" Ethan asked.

"No, but my parents did," Jed said. "My father came home early from his business trip. First time ever. He was _pissed_. He told me he had the gene but never triggered his curse, and then he told me to pack a bag. Brought me to the Salvatore school where I learned everything I needed to know."

"Do you still see your family?"

"Summer break and some holidays," Jed shrugged. "If they're free. I'm not going home for Thanksgiving this year. But I think there's a Christmas party for Mom's business partners that she wants to drag me to. She'll make me dress up to show me off, act like the proud mother. That sort of thing."

"That really sucks," Ethan said.

Jed shrugged. "I'm used to it…

"Oh look," Jed said, glad to see someone else so he could change the topic. "Here comes Alyssa now."

"That girl you like?" Ethan asked. "She's not alone."

"Of course she isn't," Jed nearly growled. Kaleb just had to keep butting his way in.

"Jed, who's your new friend?" Alyssa gave Ethan a once over before dismissing him completely.

"Ethan, this is Alyssa and Kaleb, witch and vampire," Jed introduced.

Ethan nodded at them, "Wolf." He guessed that was how he was supposed to introduce himself.

"I was just inviting Alyssa here to join me for a ride," Kaleb said with a pointed look at Jed.

"Too bad," Jed said to Alyssa. "I was hoping we could hang out later. I could tell you all about fighting Hercules."

Kaleb snorted and Ethan's mouth dropped open.

"Wait, you fought Hercules?" Ethan asked.

"More like he walked into his fist and was nearly flattened like a pancake," Kaleb said.

" _You_ didn't fight him at all, just stood there," Jed argued.

"I was trying to stop the hydra from biting any of us," Kaleb shook his head.

"Hydra?" Ethan asked.

* * *

"Josie, everything looks great," Jade said. "You really need to calm down."

Josie ran to Lizzie's side of the room to straighten everything. "It has to be perfect!"

"Jos, _chill_ ," Jade insisted.

 _If only it were that easy_ , Josie thought.

"My Mom'll be here really soon and I just want everything to be perfect for her," Josie insisted.

"Why?" Jade asked. "Caroline knows you, it's not like you have to impress her. I haven't seen the woman in years, but she couldn't have changed so much that she'd be worried Lizzie's books weren't sitting straight on her desk."

Josie sat down on Lizzie's bed with a huff. "I know. I just haven't seen her in months. I opted to stay in Mystic Falls this summer instead of going to see her. And she hasn't been _home_ in nearly two years."

She turned to look sharply at Jade. "Do you think she'll stay now?" She laughed to herself. "Of course she'll stay. I mean, why wouldn't she? We know about the merge now, know there's no way around it. She'll have to stay…

"Can you see if she's here yet?"

Jade sighed. She had taken up residence by the window facing the front of the school to watch Josie's crazy movements so she was the designated 'window-looker-outer'. She looked outside again. "Nope, still not here."

"Argh," Josie laid back.

"So, what did you find out about the merge?" Jade asked, deciding to change the subject. "Why is there no way around it?"

"The Gemini twins protect the world," Josie said. "If we don't merge, things will get _really_ bad."

"But without your magic, will you still be able to merge?"

"I don't know," Josie shrugged. "I guess I'll have to take it back to do that part. Though, by then five years will have passed and she'll probably be much stronger than me. I guess she'll be absorbing me then. Remember this face; it might not be around after that."

"That's pretty bleak," Jade said.

"That's life," Josie sighed. "Maybe I'll get lucky and have at least one great love before that happens. Not like I've had much luck in _that_ department lately."

"Here, here," Jade agreed.

"Maybe we should make one of those pacts?" Josie said. "You know, a few years from now if neither of us have found a great love, just get together for the final years I have left?" she finished hopefully. Jade hadn't shown any interest towards her at all, so this request was probably a shot in the dark, but she had to say _some_ thing.

Jade shook her head and laughed. "I hope you never get _that_ desperate."

Josie looked at her and sat up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at me," Jade said, shaking her head. "I was your _uncle's_ play thing for ten years. With my humanity turned off I did things I never would've done otherwise, but it doesn't change that fact. You'd have to be _really_ desperate to want to be with me."

"But I knew you first," Josie insisted. She hated knowing about Jade and Kai, but it didn't disgust her, not enough to completely disregard her. "Besides, that wasn't you. That was the monster."

"I didn't think you'd be interested," Jade said, regarding her curiously. "How could _you_ possibly want me knowing all that? It's gross. I'm gross."

"I don't think you're gross," Josie said. "You're not who you were without your humanity. You're just _you_ now. That's who I want to get to know anyway."

"Really?" Jade was very surprised. Not many people would feel the same way as Josie.

"I like you, Jade," Josie said. "I really do."

"Well, I like you too," Jade replied with a small smile.

Josie smiled back until there were sudden sounds outside and in the hallway.

Frowning at the window, Josie said, "Is she here finally?"

Jade looked out the window and squinted. "I know that's not her. I'm not sure _who_ that is though, but…"

Josie came over to join her and looked out, feeling sudden dread. "That's Landon…or, rather, Malivore, and he's not alone."

Just then the alarms from the wards went off.

They stared at each other in shock.

The school was under attack.

Thank goodness most of the students were gone for the holiday.

"You need to stay up here and hide," Jade said. "I'll go see what I can do to help."

"Wait, hide?" Josie asked, confused, even as Jade ran to the door and flung it open.

Jade jumped back when an animal-like creature with a big mouth and pointy antler things swiped an open claw at her. "That was fast!"

Josie held up a hand to freeze the creature but realized belatedly why Jade had told her to hide. She didn't have her magic. _Crap_!

Jade rushed at the creature, hissing as she clawed back at it with her sharp nails.

Looking around her room, Josie saw where she put the piggy bank and immediately ran for it. The school was under attack by monsters from the pit. She needed her magic. There wasn't any other option.

Smashing the piggy bank against the wall, she found the large coin and immediately willed her magic back. It flowed into her like it was grateful to return to its home.

Turning, she grabbed a trinket from a shelf to siphon and cast a spell on the creature, " _Immobilus!_ " The creature froze in its track, but seemed to be fighting through it.

"Good thing you did that," Jade said. "It kept pushing me out of the way instead of fighting. I think it was _trying_ to get to you."

Josie ran to the window to look out again. "He's still out there, just standing there. That's Malivore for you. Send the monsters in to do the dirty work."

Glaring down, she placed her hand on the wall to siphon more magic as she cast another spell, the first spell she had ever cast on Landon for Rafael, and Malivore was suddenly being dragged across the front yard by an invisible force at his feet.

"What are you doing?"

"He thinks he can stand on the sidelines for this one, he's got another think coming," Josie glared.

"Let's go then!" Jade tugged her along. "They're going to need our help downstairs."

Jed and Kaleb were in the middle of arguing over Alyssa who was admiring her nails while enjoying all the fuss being made over her. Ethan was wondering if he should just walk the school by himself since Jed seemed occupied.

All four of them were completely caught off guard when alarms started going off.

"What is that?" Ethan asked.

"Probably another monster," Alyssa yawned.

Jed and Kaleb immediately went to look over the balcony into the main hall when they heard the screams of other students.

"More like monster _s_ , plural," Kaleb said.

"What do we do?" Ethan asked, joining them and eyes going wide at the sight below.

"There's Doctor S, now," Kaleb saw their headmaster run into the main hall and immediately yell for all the students to get back and follow him. "He's going to get the others to the tunnels probably. We gotta give them time to get away."

Jed nodded. "Let's go. E, get downstairs and follow the headmaster." Ethan hadn't been trained in any sort of combat whatsoever and wasn't used to his powers, he needed to run with the rest of them.

Kaleb vamp sped down the stairs and knocked a creature with one eye and resembled an old skinny woman away from grasping onto another student. There was a misty essence emitting from her, almost like she was trying to latch her spirit onto someone. 

"Don't let her touch you!" he called out to whoever was listening.

Jed jumped down from the balcony and landed at a crouch in time to stop a large feline of a creature from getting to the students. It rammed into him with its head hard enough for Jed to wobble, but he was instantly back into the fight, jumping to pounce on the creature and pin it to the floor.

"It's a splintercat!" Alaric called out from the doorway where he was motioning for the students to run. "The head is its weakness!"

Jed began punching it, noting that the creature started fading fast after that.

"Jed, watch out!" He was suddenly pulled back from the cat by something latching around his feet. He had no time to heed Ethan's warning.

Kaleb didn't know how to fight the spirit lady thing, but he _did_ know how to fight the giant creature with the body of a snake and head of a woman that was now attacking Jed. He ran over and tried to use his strength to unwind the snake tail from Jed's legs. "She's a strong one!"

"You think?" Jed said. He kept trying to sit up and grab the snake, but it would wiggle and he would be slammed into the floor again and again.

Kaleb was suddenly pinned to the floor by the snake's upper body, her head hissing out a tongue that nightmares were made of. "Damn."

"Not cool," Alyssa said, seeing the she-snake below trying to hurt _her_ men. " _Morator!_ " 

The snake suddenly began to move in slow motion, slow enough so Kaleb could get out from under her and Jed could _finally_ sit up and unwind the tail from his feet.

Unfortunately, there were other creatures and they were advancing up the stairs.

"At least they aren't going after the students," Jed said.

"But where are they going?" Kaleb said.

The front doors suddenly slammed open and a new body came flying across the room, being dragged into the center.

"Is that—" Jed started.

The boys jumped back as Malivore, in the form of Landon, came to a sudden stop lying prone on the floor.

"What the?" Kaleb asked.

" _Expello!_ "

The boys looked up to see the creatures that had been climbing the stairs fall back down like a sonic boom.

"Josie?" Ethan asked, unable to believe his eyes. He knew she knew all about the Salvatore school, but he figured that was because her father was headmaster. No one had ever said she had any powers.

"Did you _really_ have to bring _that_ in here?" Alyssa asked, looking down her nose at Josie. "Isn't it bad enough he's sending his pathetic creatures in after us?"

"Someone has to do _some_ thing, right?" Josie glared before walking up to peer over the railing down at Malivore. "Don't like having the tables turned, _do_ you, Malivore?"

"We're all just going to forget about it anyway," Alyssa said. "Why incite the beast?"

"No, we won't," Rafael said coming to join them. "Sorry I'm late. Had to get Wade out from under his desk."

Wade was _very_ reluctantly standing there with his video camera, clutching it tightly. "I'm never going to be comfortable with any of this."

"Oh, look," Alyssa said, looking down over the balcony. "I was right. He's opening more portals. Good luck with that."

Grumbling, Josie shot her magic up to the chandelier and made it fall.

"No!" Rafael cried out, reaching as if he could stop it before it landed right on top of Malivore, killing him instantly.

"Relax," Josie said with an eye roll. "He's a phoenix, he'll be back. I just made the monsters stop rising so we can deal with it."

"Uh, no, you didn't," Kaleb called out, him and Jed backing further away. "They're still rising up!"

"Darn it," Josie mumbled.

As the team watched, more creatures rose to join the ones recovering from Josie's knocking them out.

"This is not good," Jade mumbled. "Not good."

Josie started sending out fireballs at them. "Alyssa, help me!"

"Fine," Alyssa said, glancing heavenward before she complied.

Jade raced downstairs to help with the fighting while Rafael had to stop Wade from running away. "Wade, we need you. We can't afford to forget what happened."

"I'll just prop up the camera over here," the fairy said, backing further away.

"Come on, man," Rafael said frustrated. "I need to fight. They need my help."

"Well, help them up here," Wade said. "Because they're here now."

Rafael looked over and saw that despite the witches attacking the monsters, some had still managed to get upstairs.

"Uh, guys," Ethan said, backing away toward Rafael. "I'm beginning to rethink my application."

"Don't," Rafael said, readying to fight. "This is the best school for wolves like us. Trust me." He ran forward and began to fight, getting off a few punches before he was knocked off his feet. He came back up swinging, but there were too many of them. If he wanted to keep the monsters off of the girls, and protect Wade, he was going to need help.

"Ethan, right?" Rafael said, backing off to take a breather. "Want to lend me a little help here?"

"Uh, sure?" Ethan wasn't really sure of what he was supposed to do against creatures like these, but he did well in wrestling, so maybe he could utilize that?

As they both approached the creatures again, it became obvious that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Why do they keep coming at _me_?" Ethan asked when it seemed they were all converging on him instead of Rafael.

"I don't know," Rafael said right before he was pinned, a claw wrapped around his neck, and he couldn't breathe. He tried to call out.

Ethan suddenly had five creatures coming at him at once and nowhere to go.

Wade, seeing that Rafael was in trouble, closed his eyes, gripped his camera tightly, and then he did the only other thing he knew to do in a fight. He spread his wings and shot fairy dust at the creature holding on to Raf.

The creature immediately froze and began floating up to the ceiling, completely immobilized.

"What was _that_?" Rafael asked when he could finally breathe again.

There was an answering growl and Rafael looked over to Ethan only to see that Ethan was no longer Ethan, so much as a wolf.

The wolf jumped at the creatures, causing them all to fall back as he bit into the neck of one of them.

"Wolf!" Wade hollered, running toward the girls, deciding that behind them was the safest place he could be.

A burst of flames down below indicated the phoenix was about to rise again.

"Josie!" Kaleb hollered up, punching a creature in the gut before grabbing its head and swiftly breaking its neck. "You better have a plan!"

A single giant pit suddenly opened up and a creature larger than all the rest flew up out of it.

"Oh my God," Jade squeaked from her fighting spot.

"Is that a _dragon_?" Jed asked, stupefied.

"Everyone!" Josie screamed out. " _Run!_ "

* * *

After lunch, Rebekah and Marcel led everyone to Jackson Square where street performers took to entertaining in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. The whole area was alive with music. MG even took to showing off some of his dance moves, bringing Lizzie along to dance with him though she didn't do much more than watch him and smile the entire time.

Hope knew the day would eventually have to end, but she was grateful to her aunt for stealing them all away for a bit of fun before they had to get down to the business of destroying Malivore.

Little did she know, Malivore would be rearing his head sooner than they hoped.

Upon arriving back to the compound, Lizzie pulled her phone out of her pocket and paled. "The Salvatore school was attacked."

"Oh my God," Hope immediately went to her. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Josie says a couple teachers were killed," Lizzie looked up, eyes wide. "Josie has her magic back. She says she and the super squad fought off the monsters and Malivore while dad got the other students out of the school through the tunnels, but then Malivore sent a dragon after them and they all had to run. That's when the teachers got hurt trying to help the students still in the school."

"And she remembered all that?" Hope asked.

"No," Lizzie said. "Wade recorded a lot of it. They forgot about the dragon so that means it at least has gone back into the pit."

"This is so bad," Hope looked down, feeling terrible for everyone. "Why did he attack them? I don't get it. If he wanted to know where I was, he definitely wasn't going to find out by sending monsters to kill everyone at school."

"She doesn't know," Lizzie looked back down at her phone. "She says Dad wants to have a meeting with us. Virtually."

"I'll have Freya set up that infernal video chat program," Rebekah said, listening attentively to them.

"Maybe if we pool our info, we'll figure out what he's up to and can make a game plan?" Hope said, looking up at Ryan inquisitively.

"It couldn't hurt," he said.

* * *

Freya set up the large screen for the video chat, programming it to connect to the application.

Josie appeared on the screen suddenly and she could see Freya through the video too.

"Josie, is it?" Freya said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, hi…" Josie trailed off sheepishly. "Sorry I knocked you out."

"Its okay, considering you did the right thing in the end," Freya said with a hint of a smile.

"So tell us what happened," Hope said. She was surrounded by Ryan, Lizzie, MG, and Aunt Freya. The rest of the family were around, but they didn't need to see what was happening or be in the room to hear what was happening.

Josie sighed as her dad and Rafael joined her. "I was waiting for Mom to arrive—she's okay by the way, she missed the attack but she's with the other kids now, keeping them calm—and that's when Malivore showed up. There was no warning and suddenly there was a monster in my room—I probably remember it because it's still there immobilized by my spell. Jade was holding it off but it kept trying to get to me. I realized I needed my magic so I got it back…

"I did a spell to drag Malivore into the school, which was probably a mistake given the monsters he unleashed once he was inside. But we were all doing pretty well until the dragon showed up. Then we had to run. So we did."

"That isn't much to go on," Clarke said.

"So, wait," Lizzie said. "You _dragged_ Malivore into the school with magic?"

Hope shook her head. "I'm more interested in the part where you said it kept trying to get to _you_. Why would it go after _you_?"

Clarke leaned forward suddenly. "Explain to me again what happened at the school. The other school. With the birds."

"Well, we saw on the map that there was something heading to Mystic Falls High," Lizzie said. "So we went there, though we forgot what happened until we saw the video."

"And I remember we were having lunch outside," Josie said. "But I don't remember what happened between then and when I was suddenly inside the school looking out the window."

"So the birds attacked _that_ school without any warning too," Clarke said. "What made them stop?"

"I don't know," Josie said.

"Walk me through it," Clarke said.

"According to the video," Lizzie said, "I started turning arrows into flowers, but then the birds moved into formation and were going to drop a slew of arrows onto me and a bunch of students who hadn't gotten inside yet. So I stopped them from falling. But then more birds aimed arrows at me, so I threw the ones overhead and waited to get hit."

"Only you didn't," MG said, "I did. I got hit by the arrows in your place."

"They left after that," Lizzie confirmed.

"And we haven't seen _one_ monster here until today," Josie said. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, I _did_ see one monster," Lizzie said. "A few actually. There was this _enormous_ wolf."

"I took care of him," Hope interjected.

"Wow, really?" MG said, impressed.

"Anyway," Lizzie said. "I saw the monsters, but I was the one looking for Malivore so he didn't initiate the attack that time."

"Well, not until he realized what we were doing," MG said.

Clarke looked deep in thought.

"What are you thinking?" Hope asked him.

"The murders of the witches…we always thought he was torturing them for information."

"Right…do you have some idea what he wanted to know?" Hope asked.

"Don't forget, there was a murder of a teenage girl too," Alaric interjected. "In the woods."

"Do you have a photo of the girl?" Clarke asked.

Alaric pulled out his phone and scrolled through. "I think there's one somewhere…yeah, here." He held up the phone to the screen.

"She looks like her," Clarke said.

"Her who?" Hope asked.

"Josie," Clarke said. "The dead girl looks like Josie."

"What?" Josie turned to look at the photo.

"Wasn't Josie at the bonfire that night?" Hope asked.

"Well, yeah," Josie said. "But I had already left…"

"The monster got it wrong," Clarke said.

"But why would they come after _me_?" Josie asked, astounded.

"You were the weakest link," he said. "You didn't have your powers. He knew if he could kill you, he wouldn't have to track down the rest. _That's_ what he's been up to." He shook his head.

"That's why he went after Mystic Falls High, isn't it?" Lizzie realized. "It was the next day, and he sent the birds to try to kill Josie again."

"So why did he stop after that, since he didn't kill Josie?" Hope asked.

"Because he thought he had killed MG," Clarke said. "He's killing the descendants of the ones who created him."

"How do you know I'm a descendant?" MG asked.

"Because you _are_ ," Clarke said. "Your family's been a part of this since the beginning. I bet you're a descendant of the vampire part of the trio, just like Josie and Lizzie are the descendant of the witch. He must've been killing witches after forcing them to help him find the other descendants."

"So when Josie was safe at the school, he focused on getting the birds to kill _me_ ," Lizzie said.

"But got me instead, or so he thought," MG said.

"And when he saw you, MG, last week, he knew his plan had failed," Josie said.

"There was another murder last night," Alaric mentioned.

"The wolf," Clarke said. "He must not've been able to find the wolf descendant."

"So if he attacked the Salvatore school, does that mean he found the wolf?" Hope asked.

"Either that, or he was getting nervous since MG and I skipped town," Lizzie said.

"So, if he _did_ figure out the wolf, which one is it?" Josie asked.

Rafael shook his head. "It wasn't me. When I saw him in the caverns he told me that I wasn't the wolf he wanted."

"And you're just now telling us this?" Alaric asked.

"I was upset, I forgot about it 'till now," Rafael said.

"Well, he didn't go after any of the wolves escaping to the tunnels," Alaric said. "So it had to be one of the ones still in the school _if_ he was going after the wolf and Josie."

"So, it's either Jed or Ethan," Josie said.

" _E_ than _?!_ " Hope asked, sitting up straight. "Since when is he a wolf?!"

"Since last week?" Josie said. "He triggered himself when the birds attacked the school."

"Oh my God, Ryan, that's it," Hope looked at him. " _That's_ why the Sphinx told you to wait until Thanksgiving. We had to wait until the wolf descendant triggered his curse so we'd have a complete set."

"Why would the Sphinx help us, though?" Lizzie asked.

"Because Ryan didn't see him until _after_ Ted went into the pit," Hope said. "He didn't have ties to him _or_ Malivore anymore, but I bet he wasn't too happy at being imprisoned by Malivore all those years and wants to destroy him as much as we do."

"So, we know Malivore had been trying to break the descendants line…but _why_?" MG asked. "Why is he trying so hard?"

"Because that's how they were originally going to destroy him," Lizzie said, perking up. "They were going to wipe the symbol from his forehead. _That's_ how to destroy him. We thought it wasn't possible to do it, but now…"

"Maybe your trying to jump into the pit and find his golem body wasn't such a bad idea after all," Josie said.

"You tried to do _what_?!" Hope turned to Lizzie in shock.

Lizzie shrugged. "I forgot to mention that part, but Chad's in the pit right now trying to find the body for us."

"So, if we actually _can_ get his body out of the pit," Josie said, "We can defeat him once and for all."

"And no one has to die," Alaric finished.

"We still need a way to get Malivore out of Landon into the golem body though," Hope said. "I'm working on it with Aunt Freya, but as long as we have a place to put him, we should be good."

"So what's the plan?" Lizzie asked. "Do we fight tomorrow?"

"No," Hope shook her head. "The Sphinx told us to 'give thanks in the Big Crescent'. We've been following what he's said so far and it's worked. So, we'll wait until Friday."

"So, what, you're going to drive all the way back to Mystic Falls on Friday? Because you'll get here really late," Josie said.

"A halfway point," Clarke said.

MG looked at the map on his phone. "The halfway point between New Orleans and Mystic Falls is…" he looked up. "Georgia."

Clarke scoffed. "Fitting."

"But how do we make sure Malivore is _there_?" Hope asked.

"I'll do it," Josie said, eyes flashing. "I'll make sure he's there."

"Really?" Hope asked, surprised.

"I'll need Raf, Jade, and Wade," Josie continued. "But we'll get him there."

"And since he'll be opening portals to unleash his fun loving creatures," Lizzie said, "I'll go into the pit once you get here to get the body. MG and Jed will be with me. We'll bring the body out _and_ Chad." _Hopefully_.

"You do realize that means everyone will forget you, MG, and Jed, right?" Rafael asked.

"Hope will remember them," Freya said. "And _I'll_ do the spell to return the memories when it's all over." No need for the girl, Josie, to do more black magic if it was her downfall.

"And I'll have Kaleb and Josie's team to back me up while I do the spell to get Malivore out," Hope said.

"Wait!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"What?" Hope asked.

"The reason I was originally worried about this plan," Lizzie said. "If creating Clarke's body created Malivore's body, they have to be linked somehow. We need to make sure destroying Malivore doesn't destroy Clarke too."

"I didn't know you cared," Clarke said, genuinely surprised.

She rolled her eyes at him, "I don't. Hope would be impossible to live with if something happened to you."

"Touching," Josie said, disgusted. _Really_? Lizzie and Hope were yet _again_ working to save Clarke despite what he had done to _her_. And for Lizzie to indicate that Hope would be devastated by Clarke's death, did that mean what she thought it meant? Had Hope _really_ come back, destroyed her relationship with Landon, and was now into his _brother_?

"I'll do the spell to unlink them before you guys wipe the mark away," Hope said. She looked to her aunt. "You said you could do that, right? Unlink them?"

"Yes," Freya nodded. "I'll teach you that one as well."

"So, what do you need me to do?" Alaric asked.

"We'll need you to get Kaleb, Jed, and Ethan there," Hope said. "And everyone will need help identifying the monsters."

Freya spoke up. "This all hinges on whether you can find that golem body. What happens if you don't?"

"Plan B?" Hope offered.

"Which is?" Josie asked.

"The golden arrow," Hope said. "I'll have to kill Malivore with it…I'll have to kill Landon."

Alaric shook his head. "No, I've got a way around that."

"You do?" Hope asked hopefully.

"His mother," Alaric said. "She insists on dying in his place. Emma's going to cast an old spell of Emily Bennett's, one that transfers one person's life force to someone else, saving their life, but forfeiting their own."

"So instead of killing Landon, I'll be killing Seylah," Hope shook her head, frustrated. "Great."

"I hate to make things worse," Freya said, interjecting once again. "But how do you _know_ the golden arrow will kill Malivore along with Landon?"

"Well, the golden arrow is supposed to kill a phoenix, and since Malivore is _in_ Landon, then we can only assume…" Hope said.

"True," Freya nodded. "Malivore won't be able to use Landon's body any longer, but what if he just goes back to the pit instead?"

"But…" Hope tried to think of a flaw in that reasoning but couldn't.

"When I killed him today," Josie said, "he could still release the monsters from the pit. Death didn't stop him."

Clarke spoke up, "When my consciousness was in the fake Landon body and I was killed, _I_ died…" he trailed off then, noting a flaw in that reasoning.

And so did Hope, "No…you returned to the place you were linked to. You returned to me."

"So, even if you kill the body with the golden arrow, there's a huge chance Malivore will just return to the pit and _not_ die as we hope," Freya said.

Hope took a deep breath. "Which means I'll have to kill him the old fashioned way after that. But maybe the golden arrow _will_ work and we won't have to worry about him. Okay, we'll keep that as Plan B and use the golem body for Plan A. "

Clarke looked at Freya who looked back at him. He tilted his head and she nodded. They would talk later.

* * *

Staring out into the night through the window in Hope's bedroom, resting against the back of the settee placed there, Lizzie listened to the sounds of New Orleans, remembering the good time she had that day with MG, Hope, and Hope's family before returning to the craziness that had become their lives.

"Today _was_ a good day," she said. "Until later."

"Uh huh," MG agreed while setting up his makeshift floor bed for the night. Freya _had_ offered him his own room, but he wouldn't miss the chance to stay with Lizzie. Plus, she kinda needed him right now. He would sleep on a bed of rocks if it meant he could be there for her. Though he _had_ contemplated the settee but it wasn't long enough to sleep on comfortably.

"Of course, tomorrow will, yet _again_ , be one day closer to becoming absorbed by my sister so we can become this freakishly distorted version of ourselves, but together," she rested her head on her arms, listening to the music drifting through the window.

"You know, _you_ could be the one to absorb her," MG said, bringing his leg up to take off one shoe then the other.

"Don't you get it, MG?" Lizzie asked, still staring out the window. "Even if she wasn't more powerful, I don't want to defeat her."

She turned away from the window and faced him.

"Everyone's always fighting over who gets to be the martyr and, believe me, I don't want to be one," she said. "But I don't want to lose all the parts that make her who she is when the strongest parts of herself become a part of me. What about the other parts? What about everything that makes up Josie? Where will they go?"

"She's probably thinking the same thing," he said, coming over and sitting next to her.

"No, no she's not," Lizzie shook her head. "She knows she's more powerful. She knows the parts of me that are broken, shattered. She won't miss those parts. Heck, _I_ won't miss those parts. Who would I be if I hadn't been a Gemini? If my life hadn't been tied to this seal? The black magic did this to me. Who would I be if I were normal?"

"You wouldn't be you," he said. "The girl who struggles to improve herself and be a better person. You have succeeded more than you know. I admire you."

"I know I wouldn't be me, MG," Lizzie replied flippantly. "I'm just saying, I had the _potential_ to be something else but I'm stuck with this."

"What's wrong with _this_?" he argued. "I happen to like _this_ very much."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed. "You just said how much you admired me for improving myself. Even _you_ want me to be someone else."

"I meant I admire you for doing what _you_ think needs to be done," he said. "As for me, I've liked you since the moment I first met you. You don't have to change or be something different for _me_ to like you. Bitchy and broken, whatever's going on in that head of yours, I don't mind being around for any of it."

She stared at him feeling tears well up, her internal turmoil turning and crashing like a tidal wave bringing more of the emotions to the surface.

"You're a really great friend, MG," Lizzie said, wiping at the tears on her face.

"I know," MG said, putting an arm around her to comfort her. "And so are you."

"No, not really, but I can be better," she looked down but leaned into his side, grateful for the comfort.

"And that's alright, _if_ you want to," he said. "But you don't have to."

"I want to," she said.

Not thinking at all about her actions, just reacting to the craziness inside of her, she turned to him, grabbed his face, and kissed him.

She pulled back and her eyes widened. "That was for you!" she exclaimed quickly. "Not for me!"

"Oh…kay?" he looked startled and confused, but mostly hopeful.

It was that hopefulness that had her jumping to her feet, putting as much distance between them as possible.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't mean to do that!"

"Uh…it's okay?" he said it like a question.

"Oh my God," she mumbled to herself turning away.

"Lizzie?" he said, rising to his feet.

"I need to, um," she looked back and forth. "Go. I need to go. So… see you!" she said with the biggest fake smile on the planet and left the room, tugging the door hard behind her.

Shaking his head, he sat back down to wait.

She had to come back when she wanted to sleep, right?

* * *

When Hope walked into his room wearing a sweater, tights, and a skirt instead of her usual shorts and his button-down top, he raised an eyebrow.

"New pajamas?" he asked.

Casting the noise canceling spell, she walked over to his side of the bed and grabbed his hand, pulling him to a sitting position. "A few weeks back you had a very specific request." She needed to get this out before she changed her mind. She wanted to do more with him, but she still felt a little shy about initiating it.

"Which was?" He wasn't sure what had changed with her over the past couple of days to make her take a more active role with them, but he was very much into it.

She slid up on the bed next to him on her knees. "You wanted to know about my dream."

Perking up, he turned to get up on his own knees and faced her, grasping her hands. "Judging by the outfit, it looks like it was a lot like the first one."

Nodding, she smirked. "It was, just a bit longer."

He shifted down the bed, letting go of her hands and indicating for her to lie down. "Be my guest."

She lay down on her back in the middle of the bed, the pillow resting under her head.

He slid his hands up and down her stocking covered legs, remembering how much she enjoyed the feeling of him rubbing against her with only their clothes as a barrier. She breathed out at his movement and easily went along with it when his hands nudged her thighs apart, leaving enough space for him.

Running his hands up her legs and then thighs as he went, he pushed up the skirt and laid down, resting easily against the most private part of her.

"Yes," she whimpered. "Like that."

"And then…" Unfortunately, he had to shift down away from her for the next part. He pulled her shirt up slightly and began to kiss the skin at her stomach. He took liberties that he knew her dream didn't have, as she had only dreamed of his kisses, too innocent at the time to think to include his tongue.

She moaned out his name, "Ryan!" and grasped his head. He worked his way up, bunching the sweater as he went, until it got in the way. She pulled the sweater up and over her head.

He shook his head, reaching up to still her hands. "Didn't they get caught up there?"

Breathing hard, her eyes flashed but she stopped trying to free herself from the shirt. Instead, she stared at him, hands bound in her sweater above her head, chest moving up and down to match her breathing.

He lowered his head to her chest and reached around to work at the clasp on the back of her bra as he kissed the tops of her breasts. Undoing the clasp, he looked up at her for further instruction.

"Can't really slide the straps down my arms with them up here, can you?" she said saucily.

Shrugging, he just pushed the bra up to join the sweater. "I can improvise."

Leaning back down, he took the lead and pleasured her breasts the way _he_ wanted to. It proved too much for her to keep her hands bound though. She started struggling to get the sweater and bra off.

He smirked and decided to help her. Shifting up, he pulled on the material and freed her arms. His reward being her grasping his head and pulling him down to her neck.

His movements meant his body fell perfectly between her thighs and he was resting against her again.

She slid her stocking covered feet up his thighs restlessly while he took the initiative to kiss and mouth at her neck. He tried to move to her mouth, but she shook her head. "No kiss."

"You didn't kiss me in your sex dream?" he asked, surprised.

She shook her head. "Guess my fantasies wanted to wait for the real thing?"

"The real thing is right here." He kissed her anyway, not surprised when she gave in immediately, returning his kiss with enthusiasm.

Her enthusiasm extended to the rest of her body as she slid one of her legs all the way up to latch at his waist. She arched herself up against him. His body answered hers, pressing down into hers.

She pulled back and said, "Yes, that."

"This?" he murmured, flexing himself against her again, moaning when she rubbed herself up against him once more.

She wrapped her other leg up around his waist too, arching up completely. 

"Yes, keep going."

Suddenly realizing what she wanted and what must have happened in that dream, he moved his mouth back to her neck to give her something to focus on while he reached down between their bodies and adjusted himself through his clothing to rest easier against her so things wouldn't get painful or awkward for either of them.

Finding a good angle, he propped up his arms on either side of her and raised his head, staring down into her eyes as he began to move against her. Her eyes were clouded with pleasure as they met the smolder in his.

He could simulate this for her. It was practically one step from the real thing. He knew if he kept this up though he would need to change his shorts, but he didn't care. She was enjoying it as much as he was and that was what mattered.

She suddenly dropped her legs from around his waist, bent her knees, and planted her feet on either side of him. The pressure between their bodies shifted, changed, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they both lost control completely.

So, naturally, _that_ was the moment someone knocked on the bedroom door.

He groaned in disbelief but tried to keep up the pace anyway.

It didn't matter, she had already stopped and lay back, squeezing her eyes shut. "Stopping was the part of the dream I didn't want to repeat."

The fire in his groin did _not_ like the sudden change, but she had stopped so he had to too. He would need a moment to move, and maybe… "Maybe if we ignore them they'll go away?"

"It has to be family. It could be important," she said, red faced and breathing hard.

He nodded. "Just…give me a minute."

Before he could move, the person on the other side of the door spoke up. "Hope? It's Lizzie. I really need to talk to you." She sounded tearful.

Hope smacked her forehead.

"At least she knocked this time," he said, finally rolling away from her.

She managed to sit up and move to the edge of the bed before Lizzie knocked again.

"I'll be right there," Hope called out before she remembered the spell on the room. She pushed her magic against the door to make sure Lizzie didn't try to open it while she grabbed her shirt and put it back on, forgoing the bra.

"Sorry," she told Ryan while she tugged her skirt down. "This might take a while."

He winced and nodded. 

As soon as she left the room, he made his way to the bathroom, cursing her best friend the entire time. He definitely needed to either finish off or take a cold shower, or, hell, both.

This was _not_ how he thought this evening would end.

* * *

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Hope asked, coming out into the hallway and closing the door quickly behind her.

"I think I messed up big time," Lizzie said, near hysterics, rubbing her thumb against her forehead, as if she could press all the crazy out.

"Hey, hey," Hope grasped her arms, pulling her hand down. "Let's go downstairs so we can talk."

Lizzie nodded and followed her.

Settling into the study, Hope motioned for her to sit on a couch and she joined her. "Okay, so tell me what happened?"

"I kissed MG!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Sitting back, Hope regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously? This is why you got me."

"Uh, _yes_ ," Lizzie said. "It's not like I was interrupting sex or anything. You wouldn't be crazy enough to have your first time under the same roof as your entire family."

Hope didn't bother answering that, though she may have flushed a little. She had gotten closer than she had ever been tonight. It was fair to say she wasn't too far off. Though, judging by how comfortable she felt with everything they just did, she was starting to think she really _was_ ready.

"So," Hope cleared her throat. "What's so wrong with kissing MG? I mean, I'm sure _he_ didn't mind."

"That's the problem," she said. "I didn't mean to kiss him. I was just sad and overwhelmed with all this merge crap. He was comforting me and I just did it. But I didn't mean it."

"Are you sure?" Hope asked. "I mean, kissing someone _can_ be kind of a big deal."

"In the world of virginal Hope Mikaelson, maybe," Lizzie said, glancing heavenward. "But a kiss is just that, a kiss. Unless you kiss the one person you shouldn't."

"Okay, I'll bite," Hope replied, shaking her head. "Why _shouldn't_ you have kissed MG?"

"Because he likes me!"

"Well, yeah," Hope said.

"I don't want to lead him on," Lizzie said. "I don't want him as more than a friend."

"So, what did you say to him after the kiss?" Hope asked. Lizzie could say whatever she wanted, Hope still thought Lizzie liked MG as more than a friend, but if the girl wanted to live in denial…well, so be it.

"I apologized?" Lizzie said, shrugging sheepishly. "I told him the kiss was for him and not for me, and then I apologized for kissing him."

"Well, being able to say your sorry is always a good thing?" Hope said, trying to search for something good to say.

"I think I gave him false hope and that was the _last_ thing I wanted to do," Lizzie said. "I mean, what happens when I start dating someone else again?"

"Well, uh…" Hope really had no idea what to say.

"I don't want to _hurt_ him," Lizzie said. "He's one of my best friends. I don't want to lose him either. What if he doesn't want to be friends anymore now?"

"Look, I know MG," Hope said. "He'll be okay. You didn't promise him anything. Just explain what you told me. I'm sure everything will work out. I mean, it's not like you can force yourself to be in a relationship with him just because that's what _he_ wants. He knows that. He'll accept that."

Lizzie nodded. "I hope you're right… but…"

"But, what?"

"I…can't take anymore tonight," Lizzie said. "My mind is a mess and I can't talk to him right now… I can't go back to that room…" She gave Hope a hopeful look.

"But…" Hope saw her look and realized what she was asking. " _No_. Come on, Lizzie. No! Didn't Aunt Freya say she could set up another room?"

"I don't want to bother her this late," Lizzie said. "Nik is already asleep. _Please_? I mean, _he_ doesn't even need to sleep, and I don't want to crash on a couch down here. Can you imagine your family seeing the crazy person drooling on their sofa?"

Hope closed her eyes. Ryan was not going to be pleased.

* * *

He was less than thrilled.

Resigned to spending the night sitting in the overstuffed chair in his room with a small lamp turned on to light his sketchbook, he tried to remember why Hope liked this girl. She was like family, apparently? Hope had enough family. She didn't need the Saltzman who was currently intruding upon _his_ private time with Hope.

 _Try telling that to Hope though_ , he scoffed inwardly.

At least the blonde was on _her_ side of the bed and Hope was on his. He would have to talk to Freya about getting fresh linens in the morning though.

"What _are_ you doing?" Lizzie glared at him.

"Lizzie, stop," Hope said, sitting up and running a hand through her hair, completely frustrated at this point. She had changed into her normal pajamas since sleeping in her previous outfit was very restrictive.

He didn't bother answering, just went back to shading with increased fervor. If he didn't let up, he would break his point and then he would _really_ be annoyed with her.

"That infernal scratching," Lizzie said, hitting her pillow to reshape it. "Make it stop."

"If you're going to make him stay up all night, he's got to do _something_ ," Hope said.

"Can't he just do something somewhere else then?" Lizzie grumbled, pulling the comforter up over her head and trying to go back to sleep. "Or he could just sleep in the chair."

He finally looked up and glared at the blanket covered blob on _his_ bed.

Hope sighed apologetically, trying to give him a smile to smooth things over.

He went back to his drawing, finished with the shading for the moment.

Moments passed before the blonde was at it again.

"How can you sleep with him doing that?" Lizzie asked Hope. "The sound is so annoying, oh my God!"

"Lizzie!" Hope admonished.

Giving up, he stood. "I'll be downstairs."

"Ryan," Hope said, sitting up again.

"Sleep," he said, shaking his head and leaving.

"See what you did!" he heard Hope say to Lizzie as he closed the door.

Was this what happened when reality intruded upon them? Reality could shove it. He would take Wyoming with Hope over all of this.

* * *

Lounging on one of  _the_ most comfortable couches he ever had the pleasure of sitting on, he worked on his story but he was frustrated that he couldn't spend the night with her in his arms.

It was probably for the best though. While he drew, he was trying to figure out a new plan B. No matter what happened in this fight with his father, Hope wasn't allowed to die. It couldn't be an option. He had only just found her. He refused to live another eight hundred years without her.

"Hey," a voice startled him from behind.

Turning around, he smirked when he saw Hope looking a bit rumpled. He had been gone from the room for about an hour. She must not have slept very well since he left.

"What? Does she kick?" he asked, still displeased at being displaced. "Serves you right."

"No, I just had to talk to you," she said, coming around the couch and sitting in the middle, facing him. "There's something I need to tell you."

"I'm listening," he plopped his pencil on top of his book and looked up, giving her his undivided attention.

Talking with Lizzie and listening to her friend express how worried she was about hurting MG when she didn't want to left Hope realizing how much she was still hurting Ryan even though he would never show it.

She didn't want to hurt him anymore.

"It won't matter," she said softly, meeting his eyes. "If he survives, it won't matter. For now, and for when this is all over. _You're_ the only one I want to be with. It's time you knew that."

He nearly dropped the book and the pencil slid to the floor. He tossed the book on the table in front of him and looked back at her to confirm that she was _sure_ she knew what she was saying.

"Really," she answered his unasked question with a slight giggle when he seemed speechless though his entire face had lit up. 

She reached out and stroked the backs of her middle and forefinger down the side of his face, seeing and now _feeling_ the smile. Her chest nearly burst from the happiness she felt seeing how happy he was.

She waited for a kiss but didn't expect a hug.

He pulled her into his arms tightly, burying his face into her neck, astonished and relieved. He was overwhelmed with so many emotions he had never felt before, emotions he didn't even know he had the capacity for.

This was what he had been missing his whole life—someone who chose him, someone who wanted him, someone who _loved_ him. She hadn't said it, and given how indecisive she was who knew how long it would be before she _did_ say it, but she didn't have to. He already knew. There was no way she would choose to be with him over his brother—someone she claimed to be in love with—if she didn't love _him_.

Long had he only ever known frustration and loneliness. The only tears he knew had been born of that same frustration and loneliness. The tears prickling at his eyes now though, those were born of happiness.

This is what she did to him. This is what she made him feel.

Somehow, after eight hundred plus years, he had found the perfect being for him. He definitely wasn't ever going to let her go.

When he _finally_ kissed her, pulling back to do so, she was surprised to see how emotional he was. She kissed him back, but these weren't passionate kisses. These were gentle, sweet, relieved, happy.

These were kisses of wonder and reverence.

Almost like kisses of love.


	27. We'll Make A Mikaelson Out Of You Yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Long hours passed while he watched her sleep.

Lounging at one end of the couch with his legs stretched out, she had fallen asleep cuddled up against him, the side of her head resting against his stomach and her body lying between his legs.

What started out as sheer bliss waned the closer to morning it got and the more he tried to come up with an alternative to Plan B.

" _And no one has to die," Alaric said._

Plan A was perfect. It was great. As long as everything fell into place, nothing should go _wrong_ with Plan A and everything would be fine. Hope wouldn't die. Hell, even Landon wouldn't die. Not that Clarke minded either way about him—or anyone else—though it would make Hope happy. Except…

_Slaying the beast requires a sacrifice…_

The Sphinx hadn't been wrong yet, and that worried Clarke because according to him someone _had_ to die. It couldn't be Hope. He _refused_ to let it be Hope.

But the only alternative way to save her that he could think of left him wanting to tear something apart at the sheer unfairness of it all. If he couldn't think of anything else, if he couldn't think of some other way to save her…he was going to have to break a promise to her. The promise that he knew meant the most.

The promise to never leave her alone.

Was this his punishment for all the horrible things he had done in his life? To finally find absolute happiness only to have it ripped away by the very reason he had done those horrible things?

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

He looked up and saw Freya had entered the room, presumably to begin preparation for the day ahead as she gathered candle sticks.

Nodding, he looked back down at Hope, noting her gentle even breathing. She had said Freya knew they spent their nights together so finding Hope sleeping on him in the study probably wasn't such a great surprise.

"You too," he said softly.

Pausing to look at the two of them, Freya smiled at the sight the pair made. She had gotten to know her niece's beau better than the other siblings. She knew this wasn't some passing flight of fancy for Hope. Ryan was pretty much the real deal. Of course, Hope was still young yet but Freya had a feeling it didn't matter. She would be seeing a lot more of Ryan Clarke with her niece. And she was okay with that.

"You've got a lot to be thankful for this year," Freya said, still smiling softly.

"Yeah," he said, "I do." He clenched his eyes shut against the swelling anguish. He would spend all day trying to figure out another way; but, in the event he didn't, he would need something from Freya.

"You okay?" Freya asked, noting his mood change.

"Plan B," he said softly, keeping an eye on Hope to be sure she stayed sleeping during this.

Nodding, she understood immediately. "You have another plan?"

"I do…" he said, trailing off slightly. "But…she isn't going to like it. _I_ don't like it."

"But she'll live?" Freya asked.

"She will," he confirmed.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"To meet with the four," he said. "And I need to do it when she doesn't know."

"Keeping things from her?" she asked, not surprised. Some people were willing to do anything to protect the ones they loved, no matter by what means.

"If she knows, she won't allow it," he said. "And then she'll die anyway."

"I'll give you some herbs later," she said. "It'll put her to sleep."

"I don't want to—" He didn't want to _drug_ her.

"Wait for her to sleep," Freya interrupted, understanding. "It'll stop her from waking long enough for you to have your meeting."

Wincing, he nodded. "So, tonight?"

Freya nodded in return. "I'll arrange it."

He grew quiet, staring down at Hope.

"Do you need anything else, Ryan?"

"New linens?" he said with thinly veiled humor. "An annoying blonde gnat decided to crash with us last night."

Shaking her head, understanding now why the two were in the study, she agreed, "I'll see to it."

"Thank you," he said, looking up again. "For everything." He meant it. From the moment he had walked into the Mikaelson compound, she welcomed him. She accepted his position in Hope's life. There was no resistance, no distrust, and no threats. She clearly only wanted what was best for Hope, and he got the feeling she thought that he was. No one had ever given him an instant acceptance like she had, not even Hope, though he was sure it was Hope's regard for him that had influenced Freya's. Either way, he was grateful all the same.

"Try to relax and enjoy the holiday," she suggested. "Whatever happens tomorrow, happens. You've still got today."

He didn't want just today though. He wanted forever. Always _and_ forever.

And if he couldn't come up with another way, he would never get it.

* * *

Lizzie fortified herself, took a deep breath, attempted to calm her mind, and then opened the door in a rush, breezing inside.

"MG!"

"Wha-what-what!?" MG jerked awake and nearly fell off the settee he had fallen asleep on. "What's going on? Heyyy?"

"Why are you sleeping over there?" she asked.

"Because I was waiting for you," he looked around in confusion. "I must've fallen asleep."

"Look," she said, "I don't want this to be awkward or weird, so I'm just going to say it. You're one of my best friends."

He smiled. "And you're one of mine."

"But that's _all_ we are, okay?" she said. "Just friends." She stared him down expectantly.

"Yeah, okay," he nodded.

"That's all we'll _ever_ be," she emphasized.

"Um, sure?" he said, hesitantly, a little disappointed but this wasn't anything new. He knew her; he knew she was on the verge of an episode last night. He _had_ wondered if the kiss was due to that, especially when she didn't come back to the room. Now, he had his answer.

"Good," she said cheerfully. "So we can move on. I feel better already! Happy Thanksgiving, MG!"

"Happy Thanksgiving…" he trailed off as he watched her grab her travel bag and head to the bathroom presumably to get ready for the day.

Marcel thought he had a long road ahead with her.

He didn't know the half of it.

* * *

"I don't know about this, Ric," Mac said.

Alaric knew this wouldn't be an easy discussion. There was a big battle ahead and her family was becoming a large part of that battle. They needed Ethan in this fight and, yes, there was every chance he could be injured. But if Ethan didn't help, then it was almost certain Seylah would need to die. It wasn't an easy situation at all.

"I gotta help, Mom," Ethan said, carrying a large foil pan around the adults and stowing it in the back of his mom's vehicle in one of the big boxes that made stacking and carrying easier. "It's, like, my birthright."

"How did he get on board with this so fast?" she asked Alaric. Then to Ethan, "How did you get on board with this so fast?"

"You should've seen it yesterday, Mom," Ethan said. "These monsters just kept coming. The others, they were fighting them, and then I got cornered and I had to fight too. I saw it all on the video. Can you imagine if there was no stopping them? I'm part of this, whether I want to be or not. If I don't help, there's no telling where this thing will end. If it ever does." Also, he wasn't about to let Dennis' death be for nothing.

"I'll tell you where it ends if he doesn't help," Alaric said. "It ends with Seylah dying in Landon's place. Can you accept that?"

Mac sighed and shook her head.

Maya came out of the house, carrying a smaller foil pan, hands underneath to support it. "I think this one is more corn," she called out with an amused look.

"If he goes," Mac said to Alaric, "I'm going."

"Hey," Maya said, passing the pan off to Ethan to stow in the car. "I want to go to!"

"Absolutely not," Mac and Alaric said at the same time.

"Why not?" Maya asked, feeling put out.

"You're human," Alaric said. "This isn't a fight for humans."

"But Mom and Aunt Seylah are going," Maya argued. " _You're_ going."

"We're also highly trained professionals," Mac said, putting her hands on her hips.

"So my entire family is going off to fight monsters and I'm just going to, what?" Maya asked. "Pig out on Thanksgiving leftovers at home all by myself?"

"Actually," Alaric said as he went to get into the passenger side of the vehicle, "I _could_ use your help."

Mac climbed into the driver's side and the kids joined them in the backseat.

" _Anything_ ," Maya perked up.

Mac started the car and backed out.

"Caroline needs help with the kids," Alaric said, "since I'm taking a lot of the seniors with me."

"Babysitting duty?" Maya grumbled.

"Cheer up, sis," Ethan patted her arm. "I'm sure they'll adore you in no time."

"Not the point," Maya grumbled.

"Seylah's meeting us there, right?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah, she had to put some finishing touches on the pies," Mac said. "She's been baking and cooking pretty much nonstop since she got the call. I never knew she stressed baked so much. My oven has gotten quite the workout."

"The community really pulled through," Alaric said, smiling wistfully.

This was one of the reasons Mystic Falls was such a great place to live. Word had spread about the fire at the Salvatore School—no one knew it was due to a dragon, of course—and since they knew not all of the students went home for the holiday, the community had taken it upon themselves to make a couple extra side dishes for the kids. Alaric and the Sheriff had enlisted Ethan and Maya to help them pick up a lot of the stuff. Others were dropping off their dishes at the hotel the students were holed up at. Seylah had made plenty of pies, but she also prepared a couple turkeys, already carving them to make transport easier.

The teachers who lost their lives would be mourned as heroes for doing everything they could to get the remaining students out before perishing in the fire themselves. Again, the community would never know a dragon killed them while they tried to use their magic to protect the kids. All authorities involved would be compelled to believe this was an accidental fire that got out of control.

Caroline had arrived after the fighting had ended yesterday and immediately taken charge. She found a place for the kids and got the ball rolling on fixing the damage at the school. With any luck, it would be cleaned up enough for classes on Monday.

It was good to have her home.

Pulling into the parking lot of the local hotel—that had graciously offered them a discount since they were utilizing nearly every room—Mac parked and everyone got out to begin carrying everything in.

Seylah pulled in and parked at the same time, smiling a greeting.

"Food!" Caroline called out, exiting the building. "Great! These kids are starving and the continental breakfast left a lot to be desired."

" _That's_ the mother of your kids?" Mac asked as an aside to Alaric.

"She's very young," Seylah followed up, glancing at the blonde.

"Forever seventeen," Caroline said loudly, smirking and flipping her hair over her shoulder teasingly.

"Surrogate," Alaric explained quickly.

"Ethan, right?" Caroline said seeing the boy. "Follow me, I'll show you where to put those."

Ethan had picked up one of the boxes with trays of food, so with a confused glance back at the adults, he followed the blonde inside wondering why he was suddenly taking directions from a teenager who appeared to be much older by the way she dressed. _Didn't she just say she was seventeen_?

"My daughter told me all about you," Caroline said, holding a door open for him to go through.

"Your daughter?" he asked, even more confused.

"Mom!" Josie exclaimed, coming to meet them. "The staff said to use the bigger meeting room. They'll help move everything we already set up in there."

"Josie?" Ethan knew this world he had walked into was a bit different, but he didn't understand at _all_ how Josie's mother could be the same age as her daughter.

"Hi, Ethan," Josie said quickly. "We'll talk later. Thanks for being willing to help. We literally couldn't do it without you."

Seeing his confused expression, Caroline took pity on him. "Josie, why don't you show Ethan where to set this down?"

"Follow me, E," Josie said, walking away quickly while motioning for him.

"I'm here," Maya said, coming up with one of the trays. She couldn't carry an entire box. "Should I follow them too?"

"I'll take that," Caroline said, taking it from her. "You're Ethan's sister?"

"Maya," she said. "I _do_ have a name."

Caroline smiled, appreciating her sass. "That you do. I'm Caroline."

"Oh," Maya said. "I'm supposed to be helping you or something."

"Kaleb!" Caroline called out.

Kaleb came out of nowhere. "Mrs. S?"

"Take this," she handed off the tray she had taken from Maya. "And can you help bring in the stuff from the cars?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Kaleb said and immediately left.

"Leave the carrying to the boys," Caroline said to Maya. "I need help setting the tables."

Maya followed her but kept glancing back at Kaleb. "Isn't that…a vampire?"

"Yes," Caroline replied. "He's one of our senior students. I believe he helped round up your brother and Jade on Ethan's first full moon."

"Are there…a lot of vampires here?" Maya asked, feeling suddenly timid.

"Some," Caroline said. "Fortunately most vamps are nice enough not to turn children, so they're all teenagers. The youngest is fifteen."

"They won't hurt me, will they?" Maya asked.

"Not if you don't give them a reason to," Caroline winked. "Relax. I'll protect you from the big bad vampires."

"Are you a wolf then?" Maya asked. "Or a witch?"

"Oh, no, the wolves and witches only _wish_ they were as cool as me," Caroline said. "How about we start setting tables and I'll tell you all about vampires. Once you know more, maybe you'll change your mind about us."

"Us?" Maya said with a gulp.

Caroline handed over a pile of napkins. "Here you go! Chop, chop!"

From his vantage point near the kitchen, Ethan watched the Salvatore School's headmistress direct his sister in placing out napkins. " _That's_ your mother?"

"Yep," Josie said, pulling the next pan out of the box to check its contents. "Ooo, stuffing!"

"And you're a witch?" he asked.

"For now," she said.

"What's that mean?" he asked.

"I had given up my powers," she said. "But I needed them to help yesterday. And I'll need them for tomorrow."

"I only just got my powers," he said, "but it's pretty cool. Why would you give up yours?"

"Not all magic is good," Josie explained. "Black magic is very bad, and it changes your heart. You find yourself doing things you never would've done otherwise."

"Did that happen to you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, looking down to identify the next tray of food. "Mashed potatoes here. Gotta have those."

"Are you okay to have the magic back then?" he was concerned. She must've had a good reason to give it up. Should she have it back now?

"I'll be okay," she said. "I'll just get through tomorrow and then decide what to do next."

"Now that you have the magic back though, do you feel any different than you did without it?"

"Not really," she said. "But I need to be careful. I can be easily influenced to do things I shouldn't. It's my curse. Co-dependency and all."

"You couldn't have possibly done something _that_ bad," Ethan insisted.

"If only you knew…" Josie glanced at him and his arm without him noticing. She was still the one who ruined his future because of _Clarke_ influencing her. She could never forgive Clarke for what he had done, no matter if Hope and Lizzie could. And she sincerely hoped Ethan never learned the truth about her involvement in his injury.

"That's the last of it," Alaric said, carrying in a tray. Seylah and Mac followed behind him, carrying pies and bags of rolls.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving," Josie said. "Too bad Lizzie can't be here for it."

* * *

Freya's witchy work station was kind of small for a group of people, Clarke observed. Up in an area of the compound that must appear as a tower from the outside, supplies for all of Freya's more important spells were arranged throughout.

Davina and Hope had joined Freya to go over the spell to remove Malivore's consciousness. They were all three working together, intent on getting it just right to leave no margin for error.

"Bippidy, boppidy," Rebekah said, joining him in the doorway. "They've been at that for at least an hour. Are you really going to watch them all day?"

He just looked at her, not bothering to reply. He wasn't sure what tomorrow would bring, but his intention was to spend the entire day with Hope. If that meant standing by while she worked, so be it. He didn't need to explain any of that to Rebekah.

"Bugger that," she declared. "Follow me. I have something for you. Also, if you think you're wearing a pullover and t-shirt to the dinner table, you are sorely mistaken."

He shook his head and crossed his arms, "Freya said nothing fancy was required."

"That was before I arrived and decided if we must celebrate this preposterous holiday, we're doing it in style," she swept her arm out expectantly, her expression giving no room for disagreement. "Well?"

He hesitated, looking back at Hope who had overheard them.

"Go," Hope said, smiling sweetly at him. "We won't be done for a while."

Grumbling on the inside, he resigned himself to making this as fast as possible.

"Ladies," Rebekah said to the witches before following Clarke and then taking the lead.

"I've a tailor set up in the parlor," she said. "He's compelled, of course, so no need to get all grumpy. He won't remember a thing."

"Right," he said. This Mikaelson seemed to love to compel anyone and everyone to her whimsy. He didn't think he would ever grow used to that. He guessed he would have to though. If he had the time left.

A little while later found him standing with his arms spread while the tailor marked adjustments on one of the suit blazers in his collection that Rebekah had picked for Clarke.

Removing the jacket, the tailor went off to make the adjustments as Rebekah had commanded it be done immediately. Fortunately the pants hadn't needed more than a slight adjustment to the hems.

"You said you had something for me?" he asked. Now that he was done with the suit—he had to admit, it was a nice one, she would spend a pretty penny on that—he was ready to get the rest of this interruption over with.

She regarded him silently from her seat.

He cursed inwardly. She wanted to talk. _Great_. All of these Mikaelsons had something to say to him. He wasn't surprised to know that Hope's family was very protective of her. The family's motto, their very promise to each other, reflected that protectiveness strongly. He just _really_ wanted to get back to Hope and not be forced to suffer more threats from yet another one of Hope's family members.

"I discovered something yesterday that had me curious," Rebekah began.

"Go on," he said, trying to hide his impatience.

"You didn't tell Hope of your actions in Nebraska," she said. "Not that she cared when I told her, mind you. But I was curious as to why you kept it from her."

 _At least she didn't mind_ , he thought. He hadn't been able to stop himself, especially once he got started on the incubus. Knowing that she didn't care actually eased his mind. He knew he was far from perfect. Even with her being the new purpose in his life, he still had his own darkness to contend with. He had anger and jealousy, and even his own rage that came out when provoked enough.

"Why do you care?" he asked.

"Because you kept something from her," she said. "And I want to determine whether you had adequate enough reason before I give you my blessing or not."

"What makes you think we need your blessing?" He knew he was playing with fire, but he didn't care. No matter how much he wanted Hope's family to accept him, he didn't know her. He didn't have to explain himself.

"Ooh," Rebekah laughed. "Getting defensive. I must've touched a nerve. Too bad. Spill before I spill your guts out here and now." Her eyes flashed, daring him to test her.

Weighing his options, he finally decided to say something. He really wasn't in the mood to put himself back together, or feel the pain, if she made a bloody mess of him.

"She has a recurring nightmare. It's a memory from when she was a kid," he said. "Of her father tearing people apart. She's scared she'll be like him one day."

"And you didn't want her to know she was dating someone just like him," she stated.

He just stared at her. He had answered her question. He wasn't going to give any more.

"Let me clue you in," she said. "Her father was forced to stay away from her for the better part of her life."

"The Hollow," he replied, letting her know he was following along.

"Yes," Rebekah nodded. "A testy little bitch I'm glad is no longer a part of me…

"During the time he was away from her, he tracked down and destroyed anyone who could ever be perceived as a threat to her because of his past actions. And there were _plenty_. Anyone who may have decided to take a past grievance against him out on her, he slaughtered them all," she explained. "We all thought he'd gone insane, finally driven there by being forced to stay away from her. But he had a plan. He _always_ had a plan. And this one was the ultimate plan to ensure her protection…

"And that's why you didn't tell her, isn't it?" she asked. "You wanted to protect her from the truth."

"Looks like I needn't have bothered," he said. "Also, she didn't ask." He would've told her if she had, he wasn't in the habit of lying to her.

"But the creatures were dead already," Rebekah said. "So why beat a dead horse? Overkill, wouldn't you say?"

"Look," his impatience showing as she drew attention to unsavory parts of his character. "I had to get her away, and I needed to get Triad off our backs. I did what needed to be done. End of story."

"What else would you be willing to do to protect her?" Rebekah asked.

"Anything," he said. "I would do anything to protect her."

"You don't have any powers though," Rebekah pointed out. "How could you hope to protect her?"

"I've done well enough so far, haven't I?" He was a heartbeat away from giving up on this particular family member.

"So you have," she nodded.

Rising, she went behind a counter and pulled out two long steel cases. "It's come to my attention you've been trying to get your hands on these. I don't really care for them, but if you feel they're necessary…"

Immediately lying one down on a counter and opening it, he smirked. "It'll come in handy, especially tomorrow." He began to assemble the gun parts in the case.

"You're not going to shoot that bloody thing in here, are you?" she watched him put it together.

"I'll find a safe spot for a target," he reassured her. New gun meant he needed to get used to it before he took it out in the field.

"See that you do," she nodded.

"You have it, by the way," she continued. "My blessing."

He continued with his assembly, but he smiled slightly, his only indication that he heard her.

"Oh, and there's one more gift," she said. "You'll find that later."

"Another weapon?" he asked.

"Not even remotely," she said.

Then it didn't require his attention at all right now.

"You might want to talk to Freya before you go off shooting on her property," Rebekah suggested. "No need to get her angry today, especially not with me for supplying it."

He finished the assembly and held it up, aiming at the wall to check the sight on the thing. "I'll do it. But she'll let me."

"You seem certain."

"She was the first to give her blessing," he shrugged. "She likes me."

"Oh, so now you have a favorite of us aunts?" she said disgruntled. "I'll have you know _I'm_ the favored one in these parts."

"Did Hope say that?" he asked, unable to resist taunting her after she had given him such a hard time.

"Watch it," she glared.

He laughed. He liked this one too.

* * *

"Was it my imagination, or is something going on between Hope and Clarke?" Rafael asked. He didn't notice anything until Lizzie insinuated Hope would be a mess if something happened to Clarke. After that, he couldn't help but wonder.

Josie shrugged dismissively. "I don't think it was your imagination." She glanced at the time on her phone. "Where is Wade?"

"But she wouldn't do that to Landon…" Rafael said, frowning, ignoring her question. He wasn't Wade's keeper. Wade knew what time Josie wanted everyone there. Besides, Jade was late too.

"He broke up with her, remember?" Josie said, sighing and sitting back with a huff. When she told everyone to meet in the room she shared with her parents, she figured they would at least get there on time given that tomorrow was the big day.

"That was just supposed to be a break though," he pointed out.

"A break is a break," she said. "I don't know what to tell you."

He didn't like this. Relieved as he was that everyone was doing everything in their power to make sure Landon survived, was he really going to survive only to find that the girl he loved had moved on? With his _brother_?

Rafael was ashamed to admit that he wished _he_ was the chosen brother, not Clarke. Of course, there was no context in which that would ever happen. He would _never_ do that to Landon.

Clarke clearly didn't have the same regard as him.

But Hope, how could _she_ go for him? She had always been about Landon, one hundred percent. Rafael knew Landon insisting on that 'break' was a bad thing, but maybe it was worse than he imagined. Maybe it devastated her more than either of them realized and sent her straight into Clarke's arms.

Hope _had_ been on the run with Clarke for over a month. Rafael just thought that was out of necessity. He never thought anything more could come from it. Admittedly, he had been a bit distracted thinking there was no hope for Landon. _Crap_ , he had forgotten about that dream too. Landon had overheard Lizzie and Hope talking about it. Even when they went camping, Landon had still been bringing it up and how Hope had said it didn't mean anything. Rafael knew his brother had been struggling even then to figure out what was going on with her as far as Clarke was concerned.

"Are you _sure_ there's something going on?" Rafael asked, really hoping they had both read the situation wrong.

"No one has said anything to me for sure," Josie said. "But then, no one tells me anything anymore. All I can tell you is Lizzie wouldn't have said what she said if she didn't have good reason to."

Josie was struggling with feeling left out again. Hope had orchestrated a way for Lizzie to meet up with her and didn't bother inviting Josie along. She remembered how she felt when she was younger and she had developed that crush on Hope. _This_ was why she made up that lie about Hope telling everyone about Lizzie's mental problems. She knew Lizzie would steal Hope away. She just didn't anticipate it happening in the _reverse_ now that they were older. She didn't think _Hope_ would steal _Lizzie_ away. But she had. Just like Hope had stolen Landon away. Though, was Landon really ever Josie's to begin with?

Placing all the blame on Hope seemed to be so much easier than accepting the truth. That Landon _chose_ to be with Hope over her. That Josie _chose_ to give up her magic thereby making her useless in the fight against Malivore. That Lizzie _chose_ to help Hope defeat Malivore because she felt like his rising was partially her fault.

The only blame she could legitimately place on Hope was her choosing to be with Clarke _knowing_ what he had done. Didn't their friendship mean more than some guy? Why couldn't Hope choose _her_ for once?

Why couldn't _anyone_ just choose her?

"I'm here!" Jade said, breezing into the room with a wide smile for Josie. "Sorry I'm late. Helping Caroline get the kids together."

"Why do you call her that?" Rafael asked. "Me and everyone else are supposed to call her Mrs. Salvatore."

"It's just what we called her in the prison world," Jade shrugged. "Habit."

"Oh," Rafael said then looked at Josie again. "So if no one _said_ anything for sure, it might just be nothing, right?"

"Oh my God," Josie groaned. "Why do you care anyway? It's not like you're dating her."

"Dating who?" Jade asked, sitting on the bed across from Josie's desk seat.

"It can't be true, right? I thought she loved Landon," Rafael said, ignoring Jade's question.

"And I thought he loved _me_ ," Josie grumbled. "Love hurts, doesn't it?"

"You've got that right," Jade said just as Wade finally arrived.

"About time," Rafael said.

"You never loved Maya," Josie looked toward Jade, confused by her statement.

"Maya's hardly the only person I've ever dated," Jade said.

"But you didn't…" Josie's face grew concerned and a little worried.

"Love _Kai_?" Jade laughed. "Hell no! What about you, Wade," she said, changing the topic. "Any girl have your heart?"

Wade glumly looked at her, even less interested in answering her question than he was to be standing there. "No."

"Any guy?" Jade asked again, teasingly trying to draw him into their conversation.

"I haven't been interested in anyone like that," Wade said. "And I don't know why I'm here."

"We need you, Wade," Josie said, sitting up and forgetting about everything else for the time being.

"I don't know how it works," Wade said matter-of-factly.

"You figured something out," Josie said, "Or you wouldn't have floated that monster."

"So, you want him to _float_ Malivore," Rafael said, putting the Hope drama away to focus on the task at hand. Josie had recruited the three of them to get Malivore to the battlefield tomorrow. He thought it was an impossible task, but Josie was very passionate about it.

"Yes," Josie nodded.

" _All_ the way to Georgia," Jade said skeptically.

"And you think that he won't open any portals while he does this?" Rafael asked.

"When Wade floated the monster, it couldn't do _anything_ ," Josie said. "It just floated in this suspended animation. What we need to determine is if it was just physically, or mentally too."

"And if it doesn't work mentally?" Wade asked.

"Then, we're screwed," Josie said. "I'm hoping for a win here. It's about time we got a win."

"So how are we going to determine this?" Jade asked.

"Have him float us," Josie said.

"Guinea pigs," Rafael shook his head. "Not what I was expecting."

"So you want me to spray you guys with fairy dust?" Wade asked.

"Do Rafael first," Josie said.

"Me?" Rafael said then sighed. "Fine. Okay, Wade, let's go."

Wade screwed up his face and concentrated.

"He looks constipated," Jade whispered to Josie.

"Just watch," Josie said.

Wade's wings came out and a waterfall of dust flew in Rafael's face.

Rafael sneezed then waved his arm in front of his face. "I don't think its working."

"It is," Josie said. "Just not the way we hoped."

Rafael looked down and saw that he was hovering in the air. 

"Whoa!"

He put his arms out to try to find a balance even though that was impossible. Instead of floating and being immobile, he started moving. 

"Um, I think I'm flying." When he rose to the ceiling, he put his hands against it and pushed back down. Then he reached out with one arm and flew over the beds in the room.

"Well, Tinker Bell _was_ a fairy, and she was able to get Wendy and her brothers to fly by sprinkling fairy dust on them," Jade pointed out. "Guess fairy dust really _can_ make someone fly."

"But what about what happened yesterday?" Josie said. "How come the monster didn't have the same reaction?"

"Intention?" Jade suggested.

Josie nodded. "Wade, when you dusted the monster yesterday, what was different?"

"Well," Wade shifted. "It was strangling Rafael. I wanted to help."

"Try to do that again," Josie suggested. "But do it on Jade this time."

Jade shook her head. "Even if it works on me, no one will know if it blocks my powers. I'm a vampire; I can't open portals with my mind. He should try it on you."

Josie agreed, "I need to siphon something." She looked around.

"Here," Jade reached out her hand. "Siphon from me."

"Okay," Josie took Jade's hand and drew on her power. She let go and looked at Wade expectantly.

He screwed up his face again, concentrating while trying to remember how he responded at seeing his friend being hurt. Finally, he dusted Josie.

Josie immediately froze up. No movement could be discerned except her slowly rising out of her chair and heading toward the ceiling.

"Oooh, it worked!" Jade exclaimed. "Way to go, Wade!"

Wade nodded.

"Try to do magic, Josie," Jade called out. "Move a lamp or something!"

Nothing happened.

"I think it actually worked," Rafael said, amazed. "Though I'm still trying to figure out how to get down from here. Wade?"

"I don't know," Wade said. "But if you can move, you can probably make yourself land."

"Huh," Rafael thought about it before putting his arms down at his sides. His body turned as it descended, his feet aiming toward the floor. He landed and stood solidly. "It worked!"

"What about Josie?" Jade asked. "How long will the dust last?"

"We don't know," Rafael answered for Wade. "But I'm sure Josie would rather find out than for us to figure out a way to put her down. _Right_ , Jos?"

He looked up at her, but, of course, she couldn't reply.

"I'll keep an eye on her until the dust wears off," Jade said.

"Maybe we should try to move her over so she's above one of the beds when she falls?" Rafael suggested.

Jade agreed, so Rafael held her up so they could push Josie over. "At least that worked, so we know we can move Malivore once Wade floats him."

"This is crazy," Wade said. "We've got to find Malivore in order to float him. And I've got to dust him before he can fly away."

"Well, if he flies away, you can just fly after him, right?" Jade asked. "You _do_ have wings too."

"I haven't practiced using them," Wade said. "Landon mentioned I should once, but I'm not a fan of heights."

"Of course you're not," Rafael smiled.

"And where are we putting him once he's dusted? What if he floats away before we can put him somewhere? What about the monsters he'll send after us before I can float him? And what if the dust wears off before we get to Georgia?" Wade was nothing if not thorough with all the ways this plan could go wrong.

"Relax," Rafael said. "I'm sure Josie has that all figured out."

"What if it doesn't wear off for an entire day?" Wade asked.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Jade insisted.

"I'll be sure to tell her mom when we head down," Rafael said. "Just so she doesn't come in and freak seeing Josie like that."

"Looks like she was right," Jade looked up at Josie. "Imagine that."

"Yep," Rafael said. "Look at that, Wade, who knew you'd be so helpful in the fight against Malivore."

"Can I go now?" Wade asked. "Dinner will be ready soon. And one of the desserts is made with honey."

"Honey, yeah," Rafael said with a laugh. "Another one of your super powers."

"No," Wade denied. "That's just a fairy preference."

"I know, Wade," Rafael shook his head. "I know."

* * *

"You look beautiful," MG said grinning in awe, heart beating a little fast at seeing Lizzie in a long yellow gown with one shoulder sleeveless, the material scrunched in layers down to the waist.

"I know, right?" Lizzie said, posing after entering the study.

She paused momentarily when she saw that Rebekah had dressed him in a debonair black suit with yellow accents that suspiciously matched the color of her dress.

"You look pretty snazzy yourself," she said.

Why did she get the feeling everyone in this household was trying everything they could to show their support of her and MG as a couple? _Hello, people!_ They weren't a couple.

"Not as snazzy as myself," Kol said, joining them. "But you'll pass inspection."

"Oh goodie," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. "It's here."

"I'm wounded," Kol said, clutching at his heart. "And to think I came to help the two of you out with your little problem."

"We don't _have_ a problem," Lizzie said, wondering if Kol, too, was going to get on the Mizzie train.

"No?" Kol asked. "Marcel mentioned our young MG might have a slight problem when it comes to human blood."

"Oh," Lizzie said.

"I'm working on it," MG said. "I'll learn to control it eventually."

"Why eventually though?" Kol asked. "Why not now?"

Before either of them could react, Kol rushed to Lizzie and pushed her head to the side, exposing her neck.

"What are you doing?" Lizzie said in a high pitched annoyed voice.

"You'll thank me later," Kol said before he cut a thin small line in the side of her neck with a fingernail.

"Ow!" She tried to pull away but couldn't. "If you get blood on this dress, I will _end_ you."

"Look, MG," Kol said, deliberately putting her neck on even more display, leaning closer to her. "What are you feeling?"

MG had tensed, ready to attack Kol for hurting Lizzie, but the smell of the blood had swarmed his senses and he was suddenly tensing for another reason entirely.

"That's it," Kol said. "You want a taste, right? But you can't. Because it's Lizzie, right? Are you going to hold yourself back or hurt the girl you care oh-so-much about?"

MG was fighting with himself, there was barely any control left. He tried to hold on to it, growling at himself, but it was about to slip away.

"Oh for crying out loud," Lizzie said, finally having enough of being the damsel. "I'm supposed to respect my elders and all, but…" She reached out, grabbed hold of Kol's shoulder, and siphoned.

Kol immediately began to desiccate, the pressure he was applying to keep Lizzie in place weakened and she could finally stand up straight.

Which was the moment MG's control broke and he attempted to race at Lizzie to get to her blood. Fortunately, Marcel sped into the room and grabbed him from behind.

"You never learn, do you Kol?" Marcel said, shaking his head as wrestled with MG. "Next time, _wait_ for me." He sighed. "You can let him go now," he said to Lizzie.

Lizzie let go of the vampire and glared at him as she took a step away.

"MG," she said, "Its okay. Just breathe. You can fight this. You don't need me to leave the room. You can calm down. Just breathe."

"Is that really what you say to him?" Kol asked, stepping away from her, wary.

"What?" Lizzie asked.

Marcel shook his head, and then leaned forward to speak into MG's ear firmly while gripping him tightly. "Don't breathe. Don't use your nose at all. Shut it off. Shut off all the senses. Don't smell, don't listen to the sound of her heartbeat. There is no blood. There is nothing. There's nothing you want that's enough to hurt her. You'd never hurt her."

MG heard the words through a blood haze. He focused on the words and felt for his breath. His chest was moving up and down erratically along with his breathing. He forced himself to hold his breath. And suddenly he found a bit of control. He focused on his hearing next, drowning out the sound of the rushing blood by remembering the sound of the flute the first—and only—time he had tried to play it. It had been terrible even to his own ears.

And suddenly the veins went away, and he was actually okay even though Lizzie was standing across from him with blood dribbling down her neck.

"Good," Marcel said, letting up on his grip. "If you breathe, you take it all in and it makes it even worse. It entices you. If you shut off the senses, you can handle it. Kol?" He looked up and nodded at the other vampire.

Kol reached out to Lizzie, "May I?"

Lizzie, seeing what the two of them were trying to do, decided giving her arm to Kol wasn't such a bad idea.

Kol escorted her toward MG, ready to yank her away if the ripper changed direction.

"Lean toward him," Kol said. "Put your neck right in his face."

Looking toward Marcel for confirmation, Lizzie finally did as instructed.

MG looked at her neck, but that's all he did. He turned off all his senses and he wasn't bothered at all.

He grinned and looked up at Marcel, then Lizzie. "Looks like I finally pass! _Yes!_ "

Marcel let him go and Kol let go of Lizzie.

"You're welcome," Kol said, applying his handkerchief to Lizzie's neck.

"Did you get it on the dress?" she said, grabbing the square away from Kol and holding it to her neck herself.

"Not a drop!" he swore. "My sister would string me up for betraying fashion in such a manner."

"How does it look?" Lizzie asked MG, moving the handkerchief away.

"You can barely see it," MG said. Honestly, it was easy to see and Lizzie would hate knowing it was there. But MG was glad to see it. It meant he was finally on his way to controlling the one thing about himself that he couldn't stand. It was, by far, his favorite neck to look at too.

"Is dinner ready yet?" she asked, ready to move on with this evening.

"Let's go see."

* * *

When Hope walked into the dining room with Ryan by her side, she grinned, taking in everything. "Aunt Freya, this is beautiful! When did you have time to make all of this!?"

"Please," Freya laughed. "I only made some of Keelin's favorites." She smiled at her wife who gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down herself. "The rest was catered. Being around for hundreds of years does _not_ a domestic goddess make."

The entire room shone with candles and holiday decorations in autumn colors. The dining room table was laden with so many different types of food, she had no idea how she would be able to try them all. "You outdid yourself either way."

She grasped Ryan's hand and led him over to the table, taking a spot next to Lizzie who had MG on her other side. Ryan took the seat on the other side of Hope, next to Freya at one head of the table. Nik, in his high chair, was between Freya and Keelin, across from Ryan. The seat across from Lizzie was vacant with Davina and Kol next across from MG and Rebekah, who sat beside him on that side of the table. Marcel sat at the other head of the table.

Leave it to Auntie Bex, everyone was dressed beautifully. Hope loved her navy blue chiffon cocktail dress with silver accents that matched the medium gray of Ryan's suit. His dress shirt and pocket square matched the dark blue of her dress. She saw that MG and Lizzie matched too. She giggled on the inside, wondering what Lizzie thought of _that_. Was Aunt Rebekah playing matchmaker?

"Thank you all for being here," Freya said, raising her glass. "Now, please enjoy!"

"What happened to your neck?" Hope whispered to Lizzie as everyone started serving themselves.

"Hope!" MG interrupted suddenly with a wide awkward grin to combat the glare Lizzie was giving him because he had downplayed her cut. "Guess what!? I finally passed!"

"Passed what?" Hope asked.

"The ripper test," MG grinned more naturally now.

"The _only_ reason I haven't given your uncle an aneurysm yet," Lizzie muttered to Hope.

"You try to do something nice for someone," Kol said with a slant to his head.

"Careful with that," Keelin said with a knowing look. "Or next thing you know, someone's shooting targets off your balcony."

"With permission, of course," Clarke said, nodding at Freya.

"Sorry, sweetie," Freya said to her wife. "He had to break it in. Nik was perfectly safe, weren't you, sweet boy." She smoothed her hand over his little head and smiled when he gurgled up at her happily, chewing on a fistful of sweet potatoes.

"Not my chosen weapon," Hope said, cutting up a slice of turkey, "but he _is_ good with it."

"Gets the job done," Clarke shrugged. "Took out a lot of monsters, especially during your coin toss."

"What's that now?" Rebekah leaned forward to look down the table at him to continue.

Clarke went on to explain while Hope looked around the table, happily taking in the faces of all of her loved ones paying attention as Ryan spoke.

Marcel laughed, "Klaus got that coin thing from me."

And on the conversation went, the family eating and laughing with Lizzie and MG fitting right in too.

At one point as Hope poked at more turkey on the platter to pick up and put on Ryan's plate, she leaned toward him and asked, "How are you liking this holiday?"

"Up there in my top two," he said with a smile that made his eyes squint at the corners in the cutest way.

"That's because he's not had a proper bonfire season yet," Rebekah called down to him.

"Family tradition," Hope explained to Clarke.

"You have a lot of those," he replied.

"Not really," she shook her head. "Nothing more than the usual ones. Oh, you haven't experience Thanksgiving until you've built a fort with your mashed potatoes at least once." She asked Lizzie to pass the gravy.

"A what?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Watch," she said and got to work.

Vincent finally arrived belatedly, coming in quickly. "My apologies," he gave Freya a quick kiss on the cheek in greeting, then the same to Keelin, patting Nik on the head.

"Good to see you home," he nodded across the table to Hope as he settled into the vacant seat.

Hope turned to explain the latest guest to Clarke just as Clarke noticed the new arrival give a nod to Marcel.

"Vincent is a family friend," Hope said. "He's also the head of the witch faction in New Orleans."

"You helped me with the lineage spell," Lizzie said, remembering.

"I did," Vincent nodded as he worked at filling his plate. "How'd that work out for you?"

Lizzie screwed up her face contemplating, "Well enough."

"I'm Ryan," Clarke told the man.

"Vincent," he nodded to Hope's friend.

"Why does everyone keep calling you Ryan?" Lizzie asked Clarke.

"Because they're special," was his smart-alecky reply. He was still ticked at her for interrupting things the previous night.

"Whatever, _Clarke_ ," Lizzie replied back with a roll of her eyes.

Eventually the meal came to an end and the dishes were cleared to make room for dessert.

Marcel looked around, waiting until everyone had been given a refill of their glass and had settled down again before he rose with glass in hand.

"I'd like to propose a toast," he said, holding his glass aloft.

Everyone picked up their own to raise with him.

"To family—the only reason to celebrate what my wife finds to be a most unwarranted holiday," he smiled lovingly down at her.

"The Mikaelsons have long been a part of New Orleans, helping to build it from a backwater penal colony into something truly amazing before being forced to leave long ago…

"But _then_ , nearly twenty years ago, the Mikaelsons returned. And they became a right pain in my ass." He smiled and shook his head at that.

Everyone laughed.

"But they returned for one reason, and one reason alone. For their Hope."

Hope stared at him, trying to understand why he was giving a family history right now. She felt like something big was coming, but what?

"See, Klaus wanted to be king of the home his family had worked years before to build. He came back wanting to reclaim it all. He wanted a kingdom with an army strong enough to protect his heir. His desire to rule got a bit mixed up along the way when circumstances made him set that aside as his only priority became protecting his child…

"But I say all this because it is only fitting that, despite everything, his royal decree has come to pass." He looked pointedly at Hope.

"I've just received word from the final faction, the vampires," he nodded to Vincent who had been acting as liaison to the vampires in this. "And with that word, it is certain that the factions of New Orleans will unite to help defeat this new enemy of yours."

Hope's mouth dropped open. "What?"

"The kingdom will fight for his heir," he declared loudly. "Wherever Klaus is right now, I hope he knows his efforts weren't in vein."

Hope was clutching her glass, trying to understand what was happening. Were they _all_ really going to…

"So raise your glass with me," Marcel said, smiling at the girl he could tell was quickly becoming overwhelmed. "To Klaus, to Hope, and to the loyalty that has spanned the generations."

Everyone else was smiling, Hope realized. The aunts and uncles had known this was coming. They must've all been working on it this week. But, why…

The toast went up and everyone was drinking, but Hope's hand wobbled, she was shaking too much. She was grateful when Ryan took it from her before she could spill it everywhere.

"What do you mean? How could they want to…" she didn't even know what she meant to ask.

"We've been listening," Kol said, leaning back. "We know this is no fight for a handful of high school students."

"Malivore can bring forth any number of monsters at any time," Freya said. "If you're to fail tomorrow, how much further could this go?"

"He can't control us," Keelin said, "But if it's his will, he could destroy us all. Wolves like me, vampires, witches."

"I killed so many of the vampires before," Hope said. "Why would they help?"

"You killed the ones loyal to Greta's cause," Marcel said. "Not all of them were about keeping the races pure. Not the ones loyal to Josh. Plus, vampires love any excuse to tear things apart."

"And you're a New Orleans witch," Vincent said. "There's no question the witches have your back."

"But the wolves…they must have a new alpha by now," Hope shook her head. "I thought once mom died, that was it. They were so angry over Henry."

"There are those who are still loyal to you, who will recognize you as their next alpha, honoring the Labonair blood line," Vincent explained. "The ones who weren't, they fell in line two nights ago when they all were given a vision. The same dream. Of the littlest wolf fighting and killing the biggest one."

"Fenrir," Hope whispered, suddenly remembering her own dream. He had known about this. He wanted Malivore destroyed as much as she did. He ensured that the wolves would fight.

"After that, none of them could deny your destiny," Marcel said. "They will follow you for now, and will continue to follow their interm alpha until the time that you're ready to take your rightful place as alpha and protector of the pack."

"But I don't know if I want to do that," Hope swallowed, feeling overwhelmed again. "What if I don't want to be alpha?"

"It's okay," Vincent assured her. "They know that's a possibility as well. It's there when you decide."

"This is too much," Hope sank back in her chair. "I haven't _done_ anything to deserve this…"

"This is what your parents fought for," Marcel said. "A kingdom that would come out in droves to fight beside their princess."

"That," Rebekah added. "And always and forever."

"And I thought _my_ legacy was epic," Lizzie said to Hope, but she reached to take her hand because she could tell her friend was getting emotional.

"I, for one, am stoked," MG said. "They're right. There's no telling how many monsters he could unleash at once. We all have our parts to play, but how well do you think Kaleb and Josie's team would fair against hundreds of monsters while giving you the time to do what needs to be done?"

Hope nodded.

"Perfect timing on your part, by the way," Vincent said. "Everyone was home for the holiday. Nothing like a gathering of people to make it easier to get the word out."

She shook her head with a bemused smile.

"Looks like stopping to listen to the Sphinx was a _very_ good thing," Clarke murmured to her.

"So, my dearest little princess," Rebekah said. "What's the plan now?"

Hope gulped.

* * *

"So, you're saying we're going to have an army of witches, vampires, and werewolves to help us tomorrow?" Alaric asked through the video chat, feeling a huge weight lifting off his shoulders.

"Yes. Not to mention two original vampires and an upgraded original," Hope nodded. "So don't bring any of the students that don't need to come."

"You know at least Kaleb will be coming anyway," Josie said. "There's no way he's missing out."

"But they're right," Alaric said. "War is no place for kids."

"We need to find a way to protect the ones coming," Hope agreed, looking around at Lizzie and MG, and then to Josie. "At least the wolves and vamps. The witches won't fight hand to hand."

"Vamps can use the werewolf cures," MG spoke up.

Hope looked at him sharply, thinking it through. She looked at Doctor Saltzman. "Do you have enough?"

"Yes," he nodded. "MG, Kaleb, and Jade."

"So, how do we protect the wolves?" Hope asked.

No one had any idea until Alaric cleared his throat.

"What about… the same way?" he asked.

"Absolutely not!" Hope exclaimed.

Clarke looked at her, confused at the strength of her reaction. This evening had held a lot of revelations about her and where she came from. It made him realize she invoked this feeling of protectiveness in a great many people and not just him. But the reason she invoked such a response in those around her was because she was just as protective of them. She cared about everyone.

He didn't understand what a werewolf cure was, only that the Salvatore school seemed to hold the monopoly on them. He didn't know why MG would suggest its use to protect the vampires. But given Hope's reaction to its use on the werewolves, it must involve Hope somehow. Why did everything come back to Hope?

"I'm not sure there's another way," Alaric said. "I hate to say it, but…"

Hope closed her eyes tightly. "They have to know. They have to be told what will happen before they choose to take it."

"I'll see to it," Alaric said.

"Do you have enough for _that_?" Hope asked. "That's Jed, Ethan, and Rafael. So three more. Plus they'll need one for after, just in case. So you need nine total."

"I think so," he said. "I'll check."

"I'll make sure MG has his," she said.

"Mine hasn't worn off yet," MG said.

"And we're going to make sure it doesn't right in time for the battle," Lizzie interjected, agreeing with Hope.

"So, what's the plan for tomorrow now?" Josie asked.

"Everything with us is the same," Hope said. "Everyone else will meet us there. MG will send the exact location. Clarke gave him the coordinates of a good place to fight."

"Will there be civilians?" Alaric asked.

"I'm…not sure," Hope looked at Clarke.

"It's possible," he said. "Depends how wide the fighting expands."

"We've got to make sure no one else gets hurt," Hope told him.

"I'll handle it," he said.

"Okay, so," Hope turned back. "I don't want any humans on the field."

"But—" Alaric started to argue.

" _None_ ," Hope said sternly. "Instead, I'll have a witch project you onto the field. You can help in identifying the creatures so they can kill them easier. Is Dorian coming?"

"Yes," Alaric said. "He wouldn't let any of us go without him. Especially not Emma."

"Good, so he can do the same," she said.

"Seylah and Mac are coming too," he said.

"We've got an extra sniper rifle here," Hope said. "Think one of them can help Ryan with that?"

Alaric nodded. "I'm sure Mac has one lying around too."

"Josie, are you sure you can get Malivore there?"

"Already on it," Josie said. "The plan is in place, just gotta find him come morning."

"What's the map show now?" Hope asked.

Josie reached over and opened the map toward the screen.

There were lights everywhere covering Mystic Falls.

"Why does he have that many released right now?" Hope mumbled to herself.

As they watched, all of the lights disappeared except one.

"Huh."

Then suddenly all the lights appeared again.

With a deepening dread, she realized, "He's just sending them out and back in."

The lights disappeared once more save one.

Moments later, they came back.

"Guess it's a good thing we have that army," MG squeaked.

"It's like he's bench pressing them," Lizzie said.

"Each time they return to the pit he's getting stronger," Clarke said.

Hope closed her eyes.

"I hope we're ready," she said. "I hope I didn't forget anything."

"Hey," Lizzie touched her arm. "You're not in this alone. We've got this."

"Thanks," Hope gave Lizzie a grateful smile.

"Now that this meeting is over," Clarke said, "I need your phone." He reached out to MG.

"Oh…kay," MG pulled his phone out, unlocked it, and handed it over.

Scrolling through, Clarke found the number he was looking for and pressed the call button.

"Who are you calling?" MG asked.

Clarke glanced up but didn't reply.

"Milton! Happy Thanksgiving, baby! It's so good to hear from you!"

"Veronica," Clarke said, shaking his head at the irony. "Agent Clarke here… former."

"Why do you have my son's phone?!"

"I need a favor…"

If Triad's purpose was to protect humans from things that go bump in the night, they could very well clear the area of all human life so no one got hurt.

Of course, he had just confirmed to them that he was, in fact, alive.

But who knew how long that would last anyway?

* * *

Finally returning to their room that night, Clarke listened as Hope ran off at the mouth. She wasn't usually this vocal, but she was a complete and total mess of nerves.

"I just feel so overwhelmed," she said, running her hands through her hair before turning around. "Unzip me?"

Tonight would be about holding her and calming her down, he could already tell. And he was just as happy to be doing that as anything else they did. Just being in her presence was enough for him.

He pulled the zipper down and watched as she flitted around the room, taking the dress off, hanging it up, and then looking through the dresser.

"Where's my shirt?" she said. "I thought I put it right here? Didn't I? When I came up from the couch I…" she trailed off as she went to the bathroom.

He gently removed his own outfit, being careful to hang the suit jacket and pants up. He took off his tie and dress shirt. He pulled out a change of clothes.

He knew he had to meet with everyone else in about an hour. While Hope was setting up the video chat, he had whispered a time to Freya for later.

Freya had already put the herbs he would need in the bedside table drawer when she changed the sheets earlier. He wondered if she had noticed the foil packets when she opened the drawer. He probably should've just changed the sheets himself but he had been spending time with Hope.

He put a pair of loose pants on, ones he used for sleeping in since he couldn't sleep the way he really wanted with Hope yet.

"It's not in there," she came back, her face flushed. "I don't know where it could be."

"Freya changed the sheets earlier," he said, sitting on the bottom edge of the bed to give her space to pace. "Maybe she tossed it in the wash then too."

She stopped and bit her lip. "If she did, I better get it back."

"I've got other shirts," he smirked and nodded at the dresser and closet. "Have your pick."

Grumbling, she went to where she had brought in a small collection of her own things. "I'll just wear this," she pulled out a camisole and loose shorts.

"Works for me," he tilted his head, wondering if she was going to completely change in front of him.

"I'll be back," she said, then went to the bathroom to change.

 _Of course_ , he grinned to himself. Maybe one day…maybe.

She came back out, changed, but her nerves were rising to the surface again. "Its just knowing that the _entire city_ is looking to _me_ , backing _me_ , and any of them could _die_! Because of _me_." Panic shone on her face.

"No," Clarke shook his head. "It's because they have a cause worth fighting for."

"And what if everything goes wrong with the first plan?" Hope said, continuing her pacing, worry painted across her face. "If it does, and we have to use the golden arrow, then…"

She stopped and looked up suddenly. "I should already be a vampire."

"No," he said firmly.

She nodded and resumed pacing. "I should activate my vamp side tonight just in case. Just so I can be ready."

"I said _no_ ," he said louder. "You're not dying right now. I won't allow it."

"Why not?" she turned on him.

"Freya told me what could happen if you do," he said.

"Oh _that_?" Hope said. "Mom and Freya meant well, but I don't think I'll stop being a witch if I become a vampire too. I'm a tribrid. I'm meant to be all three."

"No, not that…" Clarke hadn't even known _that_ was a possibility, but that would be just as bad.

"Ohh," Hope's eyes widened. " _That._ That doesn't matter. I don't want to have kids."

"Don't take the option for granted," he said. "Some can't, no matter what we do."

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "But if things go wrong tomorrow, taking that chance may be the only option."

"Then make the choice if something goes wrong," he said. "Don't do it now." Especially since _he_ was already going to make the choice for her. She wouldn't have to make that choice, not tomorrow anyway.

"Why does it matter so much to you whether I become a vampire or not?" she asked, suddenly remembering her last conversation with Landon about her becoming one. "If I become a vampire, will that change your mind about me?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "I'll love you no matter what you become or what you do. I'm never changing my mind about you."

"Wait…" Hope walked up close to the bed, looking down at him sitting there. "You _love_ me?"

Somewhere between being in her subconscious and spending so much time with her, he _had_ learned to love. He felt the same way about her that she felt about every person she loved, even _more_ so. He knew it despite never having felt it before. 

He loved her.

"You should know," he said, staring up at her. "You taught me how."

"And here you only taught me to drive," she grinned down at him.

"I could teach you so much more," he replied suggestively.

"So go ahead," she said, leaning down to wrap her arms around his neck while she moved to place her knees up on the bed on either side of him. She was so short she didn't have to lean down far.

He kissed her and ran his hands up her back. He pulled away after a moment though, "Just to be clear, no dying tonight, right?"

"Right," she nodded, and went back to kissing him.

Nodding, he reached around to grasp her behind before he stood up, holding her against him.

She squealed into his mouth and he turned around. He crawled with her up on the bed, lying her down and pressing down on top of her gently.

She didn't want gentle though. She wrapped her legs around him and tugged him close, and then she rolled them over so she was on top of him. He only let her have control for a moment, before he rolled them back over, grinding himself down against her.

She rubbed her tongue against his, mimicking the motion of his hips, and he groaned.

Her hands came up to grab at his hair, tugging him close before she pushed up to roll on top of him again. He reached his hands down to the bottom of her camisole and started tugging it up. She let him, leaning forward so he could tug it over her head.

Tossing the clothing to the side, he slid his hands back down her body until he found her breasts. Holding them from beneath, he pressed up, caressing the undersides.

She reached down to his stomach and started to trace her fingers along his waistband, moaning.

When her fingertips dipped below the band, he rolled her over to her back again and paused to stare down at her.

"I want to," she said, running her fingers down his stomach to his waistband again. "I'm ready."

 _Not tonight_ , he wanted to yell. _Any_ night but _tonight_. He had to meet with everyone in twenty minutes. There was _no way_ he was going to be able to give Hope a proper first time and get to that meeting. Hell, he wouldn't want to leave her when they were done anyway.

As much as he wanted to kick himself for it, he had to reach down and grab her hands to stop her. 

"Stop," he said, shaking his head at himself. "No."

She looked up at him in absolute confusion. "But…why?"

Her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh my God, Lizzie was right, you can't! I'm so sorry!"

"What?" He drew back, completely unprepared for a mention of the she-beast. What had she said _now_?

"It's okay," she said, attempting to soothe him. "We can just keep doing what we've been doing. I like that."

He shook his head, trying to understand what was happening. He expected confusion. He just hadn't expected to be the one confused. "What did Lizzie say now?"

"You weren't…um," she looked around, flushing, "Pushing for sex. So, Lizzie suggested that…you couldn't." She looked away, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with this conversation.

He had to look away too, he was on the verge of laughing suddenly and he didn't want her to think he was laughing at her. What the _hell_ did she think he had been pressing against her all week? Thinking about all the times he had rinsed his desire for her down the drain of his morning shower, he shook his head. _If only she knew_.

"I promise," he began when he was finally able to speak without the possibility of laughing. "There's nothing wrong in that department. When we finally have sex, we'll both be enjoying every minute of it. But we aren't doing it tonight."

"Why not?" she asked.

_Because I'm about to keep something from you, something that could end with me not being here tomorrow, or any day after that. Something that could make you regret having your first time with me._

"Too much is going on," he said. "You shouldn't rush into this. I don't want you to do something you'll regret."

"I could never regret you," she said.

"I've been inside your head, remember?" he said. "I know you regret your first kiss. I don't want you to regret your first time. We'll do it when the battle is over. When you don't have so much to worry about."

_If I survive._

"Okay," she said, but she didn't sound convinced at all.

He moved off of her and went to his side of the bed, pulling the blanket back. "Come here."

She went up and slid underneath the sheets too. She pressed into his side, resting her head on his chest.

"You'll get through tomorrow," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"We will," she mumbled, still disappointed but enjoying the feel of his arms around her. "Together."

He didn't reply to that.

He waited, glancing at the clock, biting his lip when he saw it was the time he had told Freya. He couldn't leave yet, not until she fell asleep. He wasn't going to blow those herbs in her face while she was awake. She would know, for one, but it would feel even more like drugging her. He needed to wait until she slept so he was just helping her stay asleep.

As he sat waiting, he suddenly realized there was a new addition to his room.

A painting was hanging above the dresser.

It depicted him and Hope yesterday in the market, a private moment between the two of them, where she was looking up at him as he stared down at her. They shared the same look of adoration on their faces for each other.

Rebekah's final gift, then.

It was perfect.

He hated what he was about to do but he _had_ to do it.

 _Anything_ , he had told Rebekah.

He would do anything to protect her.

* * *

"So, where is he?" Josie asked, annoyed.

"I don't know?" Lizzie said looking around.

"He'll be here," Freya said.

"Meeting without Hope?" Rafael said through the video chat screen. "Isn't that kind of not cool?"

"He has his reasons," Freya said. She glanced at her siblings to make sure they understood that too. She needn't have worried.

"Which are?" Lizzie asked.

"He'll explain when he gets here," Freya said. She figured Ryan must've had some trouble getting Hope to sleep if he were taking this long.

"Sorry I'm late," Clarke said, finally making his way into the room.

Freya stifled her laugh, as did her siblings. He definitely had some trouble putting Hope to sleep. He probably should've looked in a mirror and fixed his hair before he came downstairs though. What he had been doing was apparent to everyone who saw him.

He looked around, "I thought it was just supposed to be the four."

"Don't whisper in a house full of vampires if you don't want to be heard," Freya said, indicating her siblings.

"And Ethan already went home," Josie said. "Rafael wanted in on this especially if it's something you're keeping from Hope."

"She's asleep then?" Freya asked.

"When I left, she was," Clarke nodded at her.

Rafael didn't need anymore confirmation than that. Hope was sleeping with Clarke. He clenched his fists beneath the desk.

Clarke explained his plan quickly.

"I mean, we could just do that instead of the first plan," Josie said.

"No," Lizzie glared at her. "We won't. We aren't losing _anyone_ if we can help it."

"I'll get the twins what they need," Freya said. "Just in case."

"Make sure it's exactly the same," Clarke said. "The spell using black magic too."

" _No_!" Lizzie nearly growled at him. "We're _not_ doing black magic. Earth magic _only!_ "

"It won't be enough," Clarke argued. "It's not strong enough."

"Clarke, look around you," Lizzie swept a hand out. "Mother nature created _all_ of this. Earth magic _is_ strong. Black magic is why we're dealing with all of this mess. We're using earth magic this time, and that's _final_."

"Fine," he said, tightlipped.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed.

"It's your fault if this doesn't work," he said.

"Just remember whose idea it was when it does," she snapped back.

"It all depends on if someone can distract her," Clarke said.

"I'll do it," Rafael said, glaring at him through the screen.

"Are you sure?" Clarke asked.

"You think you're the only one who cares about her?" Rafael said, voice giving away his anger.

Clarke stared at him through the screen. He remembered Hope's memories of this wolf. He knew she felt bad for him, that he had struggled with having feelings for her to the point that he turned away from her and hurt her when she just needed a friend. Clarke had never considered the wolf a threat, especially since his loyalty was to Landon. Was this anger for Landon or for himself? Either way, it didn't matter as long as he could complete the task.

"If it's the difference between Hope's life or yours, I'll be making sure Hope comes out alive," Rafael said. "I'll provide the distraction needed to get it done. You can believe _that_."

"Right," Clarke stared at him. He could definitely count this as one of Hope's friends he wasn't ever going to win over. Just like Josie. Not that he cared. It was just important to know who his enemies were.

"And no one can tell her," Clarke looked at Lizzie.

"Why are you looking at me?" she said, voice going up an octave.

"You have trouble keeping secrets," MG said to her.

"Look," she sighed. "I have officially done everything possible to make sure no one dies tomorrow. I still maintain that our first plan is the best one. We'll get it done, and no one has to die. No need to worry about the second plan at all."

"Are we done now?" Josie asked. "We have to get up before dawn tomorrow if we're going to capture Malivore and get him to the battlefield in time."

Clarke nodded at Freya.

"Goodnight," Freya said, clicking the button to turn off the screen.

"You know, if it goes that route... I never would've pegged you the hero," Lizzie said to Clarke, shaking her head.

"I'm not…" he trailed off, staring ahead sight unseen. "I'll just do anything to protect her. She's my family."

Marcel came up behind him and grasped his shoulders, giving him an encouraging squeeze. 

"We'll make a Mikaelson out of you yet."

It figured. He had finally found love, the woman for him, and a family he wanted to be a part of who wanted him in return.

He was so close to the final Sphinx prophecy.

_The royal dowry is always and forever._

But he was almost certain, now more than ever, that the dowry wasn't meant for him.

* * *

Chad whispered, "How long do you think it's been?"

"Who knows?" Evelyn replied.

"I sure hope Hail Mary time gets here soon," Chad whispered again. "Lizzie made it seem like it was going to happen any day now."

"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Evelyn said, not really sure of anything since she didn't know any of these people. She was just holding out hope that _something_ would happen to get her out of this place. She was tired of running and being chased. Nearly dying was not something she wished to continue doing every day.

"I sure hope she's got someone strong enough to carry it though," Chad whispered, looking across the way. He and Evelyn were sprawled on their stomachs, taking lying low to the extreme.

"At least we found it," Evelyn said.

"You'd think there'd be some monsters protecting it or something?" Chad said.

"Maybe he can't control them in here," Evelyn suggested. "Who would want to help him out anyway?"

"True."

He stretched and wiggled.

"I just wish she would hurry up," he said.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon... any day now."


	28. Bury Me This Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words._

Josie wasn't feeling too good about herself.

After the final meeting last night, Josie had been consumed with her anger toward Clarke and had, once again, taken everything out on Hope in her mind. And that was when it finally struck her how unfair she was being to Hope. Hope didn't even _know_ about that meeting. She didn't know that someone cared enough about her to die for her. As much as Josie hated Clarke, there was something surprisingly noble in that.

She had been lashing out at Hope more and more in her thoughts. She really thought she had gotten past all her hurt but everything sprung back. She needed to stop thinking things like that. Hope was her _friend_. Hope had nearly died in trying to get the darkness out of her. Hope wasn't trying to ignore her. Hope was just trying to save them all. When this was all over, Josie knew Hope would be right there. She hadn't forgotten her. She was just busy right now.

"Mom…" Josie whispered. "I think I might be a horrible person."

The room was dark. Her alarm had yet to go off to signal the start to the day. Her father was sleeping in the other queen bed. For the first time in a long time, she got to sleep snuggled safely in her mother's arms.

"What makes you think that?" Caroline whispered back.

"I thought without my magic that all the bad thoughts would go away," she said. "I thought the magic was turning me into this jealous, angry, vengeful person. But, I think it was just me. That's who I am." She started choking up, barely able to get the last out. She remembered when Hope tried to help her with the sand clock and how Hope had tried to tell her that maybe what she felt wasn't from the magic. Apparently she was right.

"Honey," Caroline murmured, clenching her tightly. "You could never be a horrible person. The fact that this is bothering you so much shows that you're aware there's a problem. If you don't like who you are on the inside, you can work on it."

"What if I don't know how?" she asked.

"Well, there are people who can help," Caroline said. "Me, your dad, and your sister—she's had a lot of practice with that—and then, of course, there's always a professional."

"You think I should see a therapist?" Josie asked, feeling a little scared at the thought. Lizzie had gone to a therapist all her life, but she didn't know if she could. Sharing everything about herself with someone else seemed scary. She didn't think she struggled like Lizzie did, her issues weren't as bad…were they? "Do you really think that's necessary?"

"Josie, you're my daughter and I will always love you," Caroline said. "To me, you are my perfect little girl who will always brighten my day with your smile. You are my kind-hearted angel who is always willing to help and be there for others. But sometimes it's at an expense to yourself. I think that might be where all the bad thoughts are coming from."

"Do you think I'm broken, like Lizzie, and just don't know it?" Josie asked.

"I think no one has everything figured out, especially at seventeen," Caroline said. "But you've got family and friends who will always love you. And I think if you are worried enough about yourself to _want_ to change, admitting that you need a little help isn't a bad thing. Seeing a therapist isn't a bad thing."

"Can…I think about it?" Josie asked.

"All you want," Caroline gripped her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Whenever you make a decision, just let me know. I'll see to it."

"Thanks, Mom," Josie said. "I'm really glad you're home."

"Me too, sweetie," Caroline smiled down at her. "Me too."

* * *

Hope woke slowly from a strangely dreamless sleep. Awareness brought back the memories of yesterday.

Of everything that happened, the one thing that stood out—though some would argue it shouldn't in the midst of everything—was Ryan telling her he loved her.

 _He loves me_ , she thought with a smile so big she felt like her heart might burst. 

He said it didn't matter what she became or what she did, he would always love her. Witch, wolf, vampire—even when she inevitably became the true tribrid she was always meant to be—he had promised to love all of her.

Thinking back to their conversation yesterday evening, she remembered how forceful he had been about the prospect of her dying to become a vampire…and then she realized something else, something she neglected to mention to him in all of this. No wonder he had put his foot down and been so resistant.

From her perch lying against his side with her head on his chest, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. It seemed he had stayed awake this time, as he wasn't asleep. He was staring down at her so his eyes met hers as she raised her head.

She reached with her right hand and stroked the backs of her middle and forefinger down the side of his face.

"I won't jump in," she said softly.

"What?" he said.

"If I have to use the golden arrow and he goes back to the pit, I'll activate my vampire side, but I won't jump in, not if I don't have to," she said. "I should've told you that yesterday."

He smiled slightly. Leave it to her not to realize how important her life was.

"I'll try some blood or another body simulation like before," she said.

"And if that doesn't work?" he asked.

"Then…" she sighed. "I'm just saying. I won't just jump in. Not unless there isn't another option."

He stared at her. He already knew everything she was telling him. It was the conclusion he had drawn himself. He knew they had both been working toward a common goal—to see the destruction of Malivore. But didn't she realize she _just_ told him that she was willing to die if it was needed? He didn't feel guilty at all anymore for keeping things from her. Not when she knew how he felt about her but was willing to let him live without her.

The fact that she thought he would be okay with letting her die meant she still had a whole lot to learn about him.

"You really expect me to be okay with that?" he asked. Because it wasn't okay.

"No," she lowered her head and wrapped her arm across his chest. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

He hoped the same but, either way, his father's time had come. He would be destroyed today. There wouldn't be anymore last minute saves, no more chances. He wouldn't find himself confined to his prison again. There would be no chance that Hope would find herself making a choice to alter the course of her life, or end her life, again. Not when it came to his father.

"We don't have much time," he glanced at the clock. There wouldn't be any time for fooling around. Just as well. It would just drive home the fact that she was finally ready for all of him and he couldn't give it to her.

"Since I didn't last night, I'm showering first," she said with an impish grin. She leaned forward and kissed him, then got up.

She kept facing away from him since she had never found her camisole to put back on last night, but she brushed at her shorts, frowning.

He held his breath, sitting up slightly, waiting for her to say something. He had done his best to wipe away all the herbs once he got back to the room. Did he miss some?

She didn't speak though. She just shrugged and continued on.

He lay back, sighing.

* * *

"Tell me everything is going to work out," Lizzie said, staring at the ceiling of Hope's room yet again.

"Everything is going to work out," MG said, once more lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling as well.

"Liar," Lizzie said.

"I'm not," MG said. "We've got an actual _army_ helping us. We've got what we need, and we've got a plan. A good one. Everything is going to work out."

"Why did Clarke seem so certain last night that it wouldn't?" Lizzie asked.

"Because he's paranoid?" MG suggested.

"If the plan doesn't work, if we have to use Clarke's plan," she said, "he's going to die, isn't he?"

"Yeah, I think he will," he said.

"She'll be devastated," she said.

"But she'll be alive," he replied.

"I don't know if that will matter to her," she said.

"You're not thinking to tell her, are you?" he asked. "Because you can't."

"No…" she said. "I won't tell her. Because as much as it'll hurt her, you're right. She'll be alive. It took years for me to become friends with her. And it hasn't sucked."

"Yeah, she's pretty cool," he said.

"We _have_ to get that golem body out of the pit," Lizzie said. "If we do that, everything will be fine."

"We'll do it," he said.

"If we don't, Clarke… _and_ Chad will die too," Lizzie's eyes widened. "If the pit is destroyed, so will everyone and everything in it, right?"

"That's a theory, but you don't know for sure," he hastened to reassure her.

"Of course we know it for sure," Lizzie frowned. "Nothing can exist in a place that doesn't exist."

"We'll get it," he reassured her again. "He'll be opening up portals all over the place. We'll just pick one and jump in. We'll find Chad and the body right in time for the vortex to pick us up and spit us out."

"I hope you're right," she said.

"Me too," he muttered under his breath so she didn't hear.

* * *

Staring down at the map, Josie mentally prepared herself.

"He's in the woods in this area over here," she pointed at the map.

"Are there any other lights?" Rafael asked.

"Only a couple," Josie said. "At least the flashing stopped."

"For now, anyway," Jade said.

"Guess we're going in," Josie said, folding up the map. "You ready, Wade?"

"I suppose," he said.

"Jade, Rafael," Josie spoke to them first. "Stay on any monsters with him. They shouldn't be able to see you but distract them if you have to. Wade and I are going after Malivore." Her plan was for the four of them to go invisible. They weren't there to fight Malivore and his monsters. They just wanted to capture Malivore and get out of there as quickly as possible.

Jade held up the axe she had. "Ready for anything."

Rafael held up the aluminum bat he carried. "Good to go."

"I told the driver to drop us off right outside of the woods," Josie said. "Once we float him, we'll move him into the back. All of us will get in and we'll be on our way."

"She makes it sound so easy, doesn't she?" Jade whispered to Wade.

"How did you even find someone willing to drive us all the way there?" Rafael asked. "And in an armored truck?"

"My mom knows the mayor," Josie shrugged. "He arranged it. She just had to ask."

"Good ole Caroline," Jade said.

The truck came to a stop.

Josie grasped her necklace and siphoned. " _Invisique_."

"You're all invisible now," Josie said. "But we can see each other. Be quiet, and maybe we can do this without having to fight."

"Wishful thinking," Wade said.

Josie motioned them to leave with one last warning by holding up a finger to her lips.

They all followed Josie as she had studied the map best.

Coming to a stop when they finally spotted Malivore with a couple of monsters, Josie motioned for Wade to follow her.

Rafael and Jade, glad that there were only two monsters, split them up between them and went to cover their potential opponents.

Josie led Wade right down the path to stand in front of Malivore.

She nodded at him and he screwed up his face in concentration.

 _Poof_.

The fairy dust sprayed out right on Malivore.

Josie grinned as it actually worked. Malivore suddenly froze up and began to rise.

Reaching out with her magic, she stopped his ascent.

" _Invisique_ ," she whispered, making him invisible too.

Then she cast her dragging spell and he was dragged feet first across the field, toward the waiting truck.

Josie started running after him, motioning for Wade to follow.

Meanwhile, Malivore's disappearance hadn't gone unnoticed.

The two monsters looked around with looks of confusion.

Jade and Rafael backed away slowly, careful not to make any noise. They would only attack if the monsters started toward their direction.

Mercifully, they didn't follow.

 _Unbelievable_ , Jade thought proudly. _Josie actually did it_. She felt the incredible urge to hug her. She wouldn't though. She knew Josie had indicated to her that she didn't care about her past, that she was interested in her regardless, but Jade wasn't sure she was the best person for Josie.

That didn't stop her from admiring her from afar.

They all climbed into the back of the armored truck, Rafael and Jade keeping an eye out for any creatures as Josie used her magic to slam the doors shut and lock them in.

Josie banged on the wall behind the driver twice and the truck took off.

They all sat and breathed a sigh of relief.

Josie removed the invisibility spell and looked down at her feet.

Malivore would be floating up against the ceiling, but she and Wade had strewn metal chains across him to weigh him down.

"It actually worked!" Josie exclaimed.

"No kidding," Rafael said. "You know, what are the chances we just keep him like this for the entire thing? No fighting or anything."

"We need him to open at least one portal," Josie said. "Otherwise, Lizzie's team can't get into it."

"What are the chances he only opens one portal?" Rafael asked.

Jade laughed. "I'd say next to zero."

"Yeah," Josie said. "Floating was _not_ fun. I was completely powerless and helpless. I couldn't scream. My mind was there, but it felt like it wasn't my own. When the dust wears off? He's going to be _pissed_."

Rafael looked around and said softly to Josie, "If his Plan B was actually Plan A, we wouldn't have to let him open any portals at all."

Josie nodded. "I know, but this is what Lizzie wants. What Hope wants. For no one to die. And… I'm okay with that." Two people had already died because of her, because Malivore had gone after _her_. Gretchen and Dennis didn't deserved to die. Malivore needed to pay for what he had done.

"Yeah…" Rafael sighed. "You're right. No matter how much I don't like him, I've never wished for anyone's death. And if it goes that way, I gotta give it to him that Landon's mom won't have to die either."

"We'll go, we'll fight, and we'll hope all goes well," Josie said. "We're the good guys… and I guess Clarke is this once."

"How long do you think the dust will last?" Jade asked suddenly, staring down at Malivore.

"It lasted for an hour on me," Josie said. "So maybe it's the same?"

"Still, we need to keep an eye on him," Jade said. "If he wakes up and we don't dust him again in time, we could be in real trouble."

They all stared down at Malivore, save Josie who reached for her phone.

"Gotta let the girls know."

* * *

"Here," Hope said, quickly shoving a vial at MG as she climbed into the back of the limousine.

Aunt Freya had rented a few vehicles and Aunt Rebekah had compelled the drivers so most everyone in the compound had transportation to the battlefield. No flying today, just starting out early. It gave them time to go over everything without eavesdropping. Plus, flying the day after Thanksgiving? _No._

All of the people in town who planned to fight were probably already on their way. Some had started traveling the night before. Vincent told her that she didn't have to say anything to the factions, that he would take care of it on her behalf. Which made her breathe a little easier because she honestly didn't know what to say to them. She figured she _would_ speak to them eventually, but right now too much was going on for her to worry about that too.

Nik and Keelin were staying at home, of course. Hope wanted to insist Aunt Freya did as well, but she was powerful and very much needed for the fight ahead. Her aunt knew what she was doing and how to protect herself.

"Oh goodie," Lizzie grumbled sleepily, seeing what Hope gave MG. "Breakfast."

"For right _before_ the battle starts," Hope said, looking pointedly at MG.

"Got it," MG nodded, shoving it into his pocket.

"Was that blood?" Clarke asked.

"Yep," Hope nodded. She slid into the seat next to him and put her seatbelt on.

"Yours?"

"Yep," Hope settled back.

"Why?" he asked.

"Oh, you mean there's actually something mister-know-it-all doesn't know?" Lizzie asked, feigning surprise.

"It's to make sure MG doesn't die today," Hope answered.

He thought back over the conversation yesterday about protecting the students—at least the wolves and vampires. "The werewolf cures… it's your blood, isn't it?"

"Not so loud," Lizzie glanced around even though the only people who would remember this conversation were the ones who already knew the truth. "Wouldn't want that to get out."

"We discovered recently it doesn't just heal the werewolf bite for vampires," Hope explained. "It also prevents them from dying for a little while."

"How'd you discover that?" Clarke asked. It couldn't have been _that_ recently as she had only been around him.

"When my father shot an arrow through MG's heart while he was feeding on Hope and nearly killed her," Lizzie said brusquely, eyes flashing at him.

"Lizzie," Hope said, warning her to chill.

"What?" Lizzie said. "I'm just stating the facts. If that makes him uncomfortable, well it _should_."

Clarke had already apologized to Hope for leaving her that day. And if he hadn't left, he wouldn't have met the Sphinx, so it _was_ meant to be. Apparently this was too.

"Guess it's a good thing it happened then," he glared back at the blonde. "Otherwise how would you protect him _now_."

"You do realize you just said it's a good thing your girlfriend nearly died, right?" Lizzie said, laughing in disbelief.

"Would you two stop?" Hope looked back and forth between them. "What's done is done. I'm okay, MG is okay. We're all okay. I will not listen to you bicker for the next six hours. If you want to keep your mouths, _stop it_." She glared more at Lizzie than Ryan.

Remembering when Hope had done that to her before, Lizzie stopped talking even though she glared at Hope too.

Silence reigned until Clarke spoke up again. 

"So why were you resistant to the wolves taking the cure too?"

Even Lizzie and MG weren't sure about that one.

"Yeah, you did weird out over that," MG said.

Hope picked at imaginary lint on her pants. She trusted all three of the people with her. And they should probably know in the event it happened today… 

"If a wolf dies with my blood in their system…they become a hybrid."

"Get out," Lizzie leaned forward.

Clarke frowned. He didn't like this at all. She had just given a million reasons for all vampires and werewolves of the world to come after her if the truth got out.

"But that's actually cool," MG said. "They can change whenever they want and have a combination of both wolf and vamp. Why would you be worried about that?"

"Because it's _not_ cool," Hope sighed. "They're sired to me. Like, _really_ loyal. Like, they'll do anything I say whether they want to or not. The only way to break the sire bond is to go through the change a hundred or so times. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"Oh," MG said, finally understanding.

"Doctor Saltzman said he'd explain what would happen before he gave it to them," Hope said. "I don't know if any of them will choose to take it or not."

"Guess it's up to them," Lizzie said.

"Who knows about this?" Clarke asked.

"The hybrids? Or my blood?" Hope asked.

"The blood," he said.

"Besides you three and my family?" Hope thought about it. "Doctor Saltzman, Caroline, Kaleb, and Josie. And depending on how he worded it to the wolves, them too. But Doctor Saltzman can be vague when he needs to be. The Crescent wolves know about the hybrids. Just not the rest."

"No one else finds out about that," he said, looking meaningfully at Lizzie and MG.

"Mums the word, mud boy," Lizzie said. "Dad swore us to secrecy after MG came back to life."

"Good," he said, resting his head back against the seat again. He knew a lot about Hope, but apparently not everything. He thought he liked this bit of information least of all.

"Just got word from Josie," Lizzie said, looking at her phone. "The beast is contained. They're on their way."

"She did it," Hope shook her head. "You know, she's a lot more powerful than she thinks she is."

Lizzie laughed ironically. "You think I don't know that?"

* * *

Jade had been staring extra hard down at Malivore, looking for  _any_ sign of movement.

Her eyesight was the most keen of them all, so when she thought she detected a slight flutter of an eyelash, she jumped, "I think he's waking up! Wade, dust him!"

"It's only been twenty minutes," Rafael said.

"Do it!" Jade exclaimed.

Wade tried to hurry up and dust, but he was going too slowly for Jade.

She jumped up and swung the axe down at his head, but Josie stopped it with her magic. "No!"

_Poof!_

The fairy dust fell over Malivore once again.

"Whoa!" Rafael jumped up. "What was that for!?" he exclaimed to Jade.

"Why'd you stop me?" Jade asked, tugging her axe back.

"Because Wade can't dust him while he's _dead_ , but Malivore can still control the monsters while he is," Josie said. "You can't kill him or that trouble you're worried about? It'll find us."

"Oh," Jade said, putting the axe down. "Sorry."

"So he has to be dusted every twenty minutes?" Wade asked, frowning.

"Looks like any bathroom breaks will have to be quick, for you at least," Rafael said.

"Why are you frowning?" Josie asked Wade.

"Because we've never tested my powers," Wade said. "Not really. I don't know how much fairy dust I can make and for how long."

"Let's just hope it's enough to get us there," Josie said, suddenly frowning too. "Breaks to a minimum."

They all nodded.

"This is going to be a long six hours," Wade said.

He wasn't wrong.

* * *

"I somehow thought this would be a bit more of an adventure," Ethan said to Jed.

"It _will_ be," Jed said. "Just…not yet."

Fortunately, Doctor Saltzman had opted for the Salvatore School bus instead of his van because they never would've fit otherwise.

And Ethan was right. It didn't feel like much of an adventure driving along with a bunch of adults up front while the kids hung out in the back.

Jed's only relief came from the fact that Alyssa had chosen a seat all to herself. Which meant Kaleb couldn't spend the entire trip next to her.

Instead, they all claimed their own seats. Kaleb in the one behind Alyssa, Jed in the one in the same row, and Ethan in front of Jed.

"This is impossible," Alyssa complained, rearranging her pillows again. She looked around before using her magic to widen her seat so it stretched all the way to meet the back of the seat in front of her. "Finally!" She stretched out.

"That looks pretty comfy," Kaleb said, looking over the seat at her.

"It is," Alyssa said. "Now be quiet so I can sleep. All this early morning travel is ruining my beauty sleep."

"I still think Doctor Saltzman shouldn't have let her come," Jed whispered to Ethan.

Ethan shrugged. He didn't particularly care for the witch, she seemed to always look down her nose at him, but if she wanted to fight, the more the merrier.

Kaleb moved to the seat behind Jed, having overheard. "She just couldn't be away from me that long, clearly."

"Did she say that?" Jed asked. "Because I'm sure _I'm_ the one she couldn't be away from."

" _I_ didn't want to be stuck inside a filthy hotel playing babysitter while everyone else was off destroying things," Alyssa said from her blanketed cocoon. "You boys can't have all the fun."

"Jed's right though," Ethan said. "There's going to be an army of experienced witches. There's no reason she should be there."

"Who gave you permission to exist?" Alyssa sat up slightly to glare at him. She conjured a ball of fire in her palm. "Because I could change that right now."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Alaric called out, smelling the smoke and seeing the fire from all the way up front. "Put that out, Alyssa!"

She did, closing her palm with an annoyed sigh. "It's out."

"Good!"

"Do you really think it was a good idea," Emma said softly, "bringing her along?"

Alaric squinted, thinking about it once more. "Not really, but she demanded to come. And we need two witches to project Dorian and me onto the field. I'm pretty sure she's good to do that, but not much more. I'd rather not take one of the more experienced witches away from the battle if I can help it."

"Do you really think we'll be able to do that much?" Dorian asked. "The two of us running around as our astral selves telling them how to kill things? Sounds redundant, ineffective, and a lot of ground to cover. Plus, as long as they go for the head or heart, a majority of the time they'll kill them before we can open our mouths."

"It was Hope's idea," Alaric said.

Emma smiled. "She's protecting you, Ric. And Dorian."

"I know that," Alaric said, at the same time shaking his head.

"She knows you won't sit this fight out, but she also knows how dangerous it's going to be," Emma said. "So she gave you a part to play."

"And we're damn well going to play it," Alaric said.

"Gotta admit though," Dorian said. "They're doing a pretty darn good job."

"That they are," Alaric said, feeling proud of his girls despite it all. It was Malivore's day of reckoning, and Lizzie, Josie, and Hope had planned it all. He was used to being in charge, but his girls, they were all grown up and taking the lead themselves.

Mac listened to the other's conversation, and then leaned over to whisper to her sister. "You really think they can do it?"

"Those girls are tough," Seylah nodded. "They aren't afraid to do what needs to be done. Like me."

"But if anything goes wrong…" Mac looked at her, eyes worried.

"Let me ask you," Seylah said, "Would you not do the same for Maya or Ethan?"

"In a heartbeat," Mac replied immediately. She would do anything to protect her children.

"Then you understand."

Mac nodded.

"Worry not," Seylah grasped her arm in a comforting grip. "If today is my last day, I'll see you in the next life."

Mac understood, she just wished Seylah wasn't so darn cavalier about it. But how else was she supposed to be?

She only hoped her nephew would one day understand how lucky he was, to have a mother such as her sister.

* * *

The girls had fallen asleep as the day wore on.

Hope had long since forgone her seat belt and curled up into Clarke's side.

Lizzie still had her seat belt on, but her head was resting on MG's shoulder.

"You really think it'll come to that?" MG asked Clarke softly.

Clarke looked down at Hope sharply and shook his head at MG to indicate he be quiet.

"So, instead, how about you tell me why you had me turned?" MG asked.

"Truthfully? I can't stand your mother," Clarke said.

"That makes two of us," MG said.

"I was taking down Triad," Clarke explained further. "To do that, I needed to destroy the founding families. Turning you into something Veronica hated seemed more satisfying than having you killed outright."

"Well knowing the alternative, I guess I should be thanking you," MG shook his head at the irony of everything.

"You don't hate me for it," Clarke said, noting MG's attitude hadn't changed.

"If I'd never become a vampire, I wouldn't have met her," MG looked down at Lizzie.

"Guess you can thank me for that too," Clarke smirked.

"Nah," MG said. "I'm not that chill."

Clarke laughed.

"If this goes south," MG said, "Just know we'll all look out for her."

"I know," Clarke said. "She's well loved and protected."

"That she is," MG said with a knowing look.

Clarke nodded, acknowledging what MG didn't have to say. That Clarke was included in that.

The car came to a stop.

"Are we there?" MG looked up.

Doors from the other vehicles holding the originals could be heard closing. Clarke looked out.

"Yeah."

"Lizzie," MG said, nudging her. "We're here."

She groaned and woke up. "Already? Fine." She undid her seat belt and made her way out, grabbing her small backpack with supplies.

MG followed, closing the door behind him.

"Hope," Clarke murmured, running a hand through her hair, waking her gently.

She opened her eyes sleepily, "Hey."

"We're here," he said. "It's nearly time."

She moved to sit up and looked around. "It's really happening, isn't it?"

"Yes," Clarke answered. "Today's the day my father meets his end."

"Let's get this over with so we can get to the good part," she said.

"Which part?"

She reached for his shoulders and tugged him towards her. 

"This one." She kissed him, pressing against him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He tilted his head and met her kiss. She took his bottom lip between hers, biting gently. He pulled her against him and she turned into him, letting go of his lip to kiss him once more.

She pulled back slowly and looked into his eyes, "Later."

The promise in her gaze had him marveling, once more, at the irony of it all.

"I love you," he whispered, needing to say it at least one more time. Not for himself, but for her. So when this was all over, she would understand why he'd done what he had.

 _Bang! Bang!_

"Show time, love birds!" Kol shouted from outside, banging on the car. "War waits for no one."

Sighing, Hope pulled away from Clarke and they both got out of the car.

She went to the trunk and retrieved her bow just in case, and a couple daggers. She would have to forgo her usual axe. Today was mostly about the magic.

Spotting Lizzie, MG, Jed, and Ethan in the distance, she grasped Clarke's arm. 

"See you after," she stood on tiptoes while he leaned down to kiss him one last time before the battle was to start.

Then she left for the group. Clearly Doctor Saltzman had arrived too. She needed to talk to him about signals for Plan B in case they had to go that route. She would need to know when Emma completed the spell so she didn't accidentally kill Landon before Seylah's life force was on its way to him.

But for now, she had to speak to Ethan.

"Hello there," Hope said, arriving to the group of four.

"Hi, Hope," Jed said with a smile. "Long time no see."

"I could say the same thing," Ethan said.

"You three ready?" Hope said to Lizzie, MG, and Jed.

"Yep," Jed answered for them. "As long as your aunt returns everyone's memories of me, I'm good with it."

"Hey, Ethan, I know this is all new for you," Hope said. "But thanks for agreeing to be part of it."

"Its part of my legacy, isn't it?" Ethan said.

"That, and being a wolf," Hope said. "I could hardly believe it when I heard."

"Yep, a Crescent like you too, apparently," he said.

"Really?" She was surprised. Most crescents knew what pack they belonged to. They didn't leave the area. They were protective of their own. The only crescent she knew of who didn't grow up with the pack was her mother, but that was because Marcel had hidden her away to protect her as a baby.

"Right down to the birthmark," Ethan shook his head.

"Birthmark?" Hope asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, the crescent shaped thing on my shoulder. Guess it's a pack thing," Ethan shrugged. "I'm still learning."

"But, that's not…" Hope trailed off. Now wasn't the time to get into it but all crescent wolves weren't born with the mark. Only those born of the Labonair blood line had it. Labonairs were royalty to the crescent wolves, but all Labonairs except for Hayley and Hope had been killed in some freak accident because of The Hollow before it had manifested on earth again.

If Ethan had the crescent mark, he wasn't just a Labonair. He was related to Hope.

She would have to go through Grandma Mary's books for any mention of someone named Machado. She was meticulous in keeping birth records while she was living.

"That's great," Hope finally said, correcting herself. "I'll be sure to tell you all about the pack when this is over."

"I'd appreciate it," he said.

"Kaleb!" Hope exclaimed, glad to see her partner. "Ready to prepare for Josie's arrival?"

"You got it boss," Kaleb said.

The two left, heading off to set things up.

Lizzie turned to Ethan now that Hope had gone away. "Come here, wolf boy."

"Who are you again?" Ethan asked.

"Josie's sister, Lizzie. We need your blood for the spell," Lizzie said, not bothering to mention it wasn't for Hope's spell. It was for Clarke's. She was _really_ hoping they wouldn't have to use it, but if they did it had to be ready. She would get Josie's blood last, if, _and only if_ , they needed it.

She pricked his finger and pinched it over the container.

"That's kind of a lot," he said, looking down.

Lizzie shrugged. "Man up, wolfie."

She got as much as she could, then let go. "Now run along to Hope. She's the safest place for you to be during this."

"Shouldn't I get a weapon?" He asked.

"No," Lizzie said. "You aren't fighting. We need you to wipe the mark. We need you alive. You're going to go to Hope and sit pretty until it's time. After that, I don't care."

"You don't gotta be such a bitch about it," Jed said.

"That's me," Lizzie said with sarcastic sweetness. "Queen bitch. Now go, wolf boy. And Jed, do you have it?"

Jed pushed a bag out to her. "One nasty smelling blood covered t-shirt. What other strange things do you keep in your room?"

Lizzie snatched it from him. 

" _You_ won't be finding out." She needed Seylah's shirt with Chad's blood to track him once they went into the pit.

Clarke found the first steel case in the trunk and began assembling his rifle. He would assemble both guns, one for himself, and one for the sheriff of Mystic Falls.

The sun was suddenly blocked by a presence to his right.

"Kol," he said while still looking down.

"That little gathering you put on last night," Kol said. "Enjoyable, if a bit overdramatic."

"Just spit it out," Clarke said. "What sage bit of advice do you Mikaelsons have for me now?"

"Davina died before," Kol said. "She was dead for five years, in fact."

Clarke listened as he continued to assemble the guns.

"I was sure that was it. The one person to change my life, to make me a better man, gone forever," Kol said. "And yet, here we are." He held his arms out with a smug grateful grin.

Clarke finished and looked at him.

"Life has a way of going the most unexpected way," Kol said. "I'm a firm believer in anything is possible if you believe in it enough."

Hearing Hope's words from that long ago night repeated back to him, he understood that Kol was simply offering what Hope had offered him with those words. A small piece of hope that everything would be alright.

Miraculously, it _had_ been alright the last time.

Would he get another miracle?

"I believe one of those is for me," Mac said, arriving and pointing at the guns in the trunk.

"Thanks," Clarke said to Kol.

"Anytime," the original nodded before taking his leave.

Clarke handed a rifle to the sheriff.

"There's a good vantage point up there," he pointed to a building across the way.

Mac nodded and followed him when he started toward the building.

"Didn't think the next time I saw _you_ , we'd be working together," she said.

"Life is full of surprises," he said. "I should let you know, we make it through this, I _will_ be returning to Mystic Falls."

"I think it's safe to say, I won't have a problem with that," she said.

"Good."

They climbed the stairs of the empty building—thanks to Triad—and Clarke busted the lock to the roof.

They both set up their guns, Clarke choosing the side that would give him the best view of Hope.

"Aim for the head or the heart," Clarke instructed her. "And obviously make sure you've got a clean shot before you take it."

"Which one's Hope?" Mac asked, looking through the sight on her weapon, stifling the urge to mention her background while serving.

"The badass with the bow," he replied.

"Ah," she said, spotting the only person with a bow and arrow below.

He swung his sight down until he found the blonde he was looking for. "There," he pointed at her. "See the blinding shock of blonde hair?"

"You mean Lizzie?" Mac asked. "I know her."

"She's head of the A Team," he said. "They're going invisible when the fighting starts. Whenever you see them again, let me know."

"I need to watch my son," Mac insisted. "Ethan."

"The newbie wolf?" he asked. "He's with Hope. No safer place for him."

"But—"

"If he dies, this whole thing is over," he interrupted her. "Hope knows that. She won't let anything happen to him."

"You better be right," she grumbled.

"I'm always right," he said.

* * *

_Po…of…_

"What was that?!" Josie exclaimed.

"I think…I'm running out," Wade said, feeling exhausted. "I'm really tired."

"How much further?!" Josie said.

Rafael looked down at his phone. He was keeping track of their route along with resetting the timer each time Wade dusted Malivore. "We're about fifteen minutes out…"

"Reset the timer and start hoping," Jade said.

Josie opened the mesh covered square to the driver and said, "We need you to _speed_."

"Will do."

Josie closed the square and turned around.

"Okay," Josie breathed out. "Almost time."

* * *

Hope looked around. There were so many people spread out everywhere, all waiting.

Josie would be there any minute.

And then she saw them.

The armored vehicle Josie had described. It was heading straight for her.

Good. That was what they planned.

As she watched, the vehicle screeched to a halt and turned around so the back was facing Hope.

The doors flew open and a body came flying out, being dragged across the field.

"He's waking up!" Josie screamed out.

Hope could see it; see him coming to his senses. See him spread his wings as she heard the cries of warning go out to indicate portals were opening.

And so it began.

"Ethan!" Hope yelled.

"On it," he flicked a switch on the ten thousand gallon army grade water tank Clarke had requested Triad to transport and leave for them. Then he aimed.

The giant hose sprayed out a hard stream of water straight at Malivore, soaking his wings, putting the fire out, pummeling him to the ground.

"That's our cue," Lizzie said to Hope, nodding at the portals.

" _Invisque!_ " she cast the spell over her, MG, and Jed. "Let's go boys."

Fighting broke out all around as hundreds of monsters left the portals and began to fight, trying to make their way to their master at his command to help him. The monsters Malivore sent out this time were the worst of the worst. Vicious and excited at the prospect of violence. It didn't take much to get them to do Malivore's bidding.

Josie, Rafael, and Jade were running close behind Malivore, heading toward Hope because they were supposed to back her up along with Kaleb. Wade brought up the rear, unsure of where he was supposed to go now that they had arrived.

As they neared Hope, something was thrown in their direction, but it wasn't aimed at the witch, vampire, or wolf. No, it was aimed at the fairy, because the fairy could incapacitate Malivore.

Jade, seeing the flying fatality, jumped back in front of Wade and grabbed it midair. "Gotcha!" Then she was hit through the heart with a second one she didn't see coming.

"Josie!" Wade said loudly.

Josie turned around. 

"Pull it out! She's fine!" Thank _God_ Jade had taken the vial of Hope's blood before this started.

She turned back to Hope, seeing all the creatures trying to get to her. "You've got to put up some kind of boundary. We can't keep them all back well enough for you to focus."

"On it," Hope said. She concentrated and created a boundary in the dirt, an invisible dome that circled the ground and ran over her and Malivore's heads. She made sure to include Ethan in the boundary. She _had_ to keep him safe.

"Wade!" Josie called out. "Get to Ethan, inside the boundary!"

"Can't he just dust him again?" Hope asked hopefully.

"He ran out of dust for now."

Rafael and Kaleb were inside the circle too, but the creatures hit the boundary all at once.

"Something tells me with all the monsters out there, something's going to make its way through," Kaleb said.

"Then I guess we better make sure they take a step back," Rafael said, winding up the bat, then stepping forward and swinging.

Seeing the creatures stumble backwards, Kaleb clutched his own club more firmly. "Let's go."

"Nice try, but you can't defeat me," Malivore said to Hope. "And just because my creatures can't get in, doesn't mean I can't open a portal in here."

"You're wrong on both counts," Hope said. "You actually gave it away, how to kill you. Good job! Also, this is _my_ boundary. Nothing gets in or out without my say so."

He tried, but she was right. He couldn't open them inside. That didn't mean he couldn't open them on the outside. 

"I think I might have something that could destroy this boundary."

Dragons were released then, three of them. They went flying around, spewing their fire to the ground, making both sides run out of the way of the burn.

Josie had the spell for death this time. She knew she shouldn't do black magic, but she needed it. She was caught off guard at the school and two teachers had died because of it. She wasn't taking any chances when it came to dragons ever again.

She ran out of the dome and raised her hand to the first dragon that was flying in and was preparing to fire down on top of the dome.

Freya and Davina joined her.

"Do you got it?" Davina asked.

"Running out of power," Josie said, hating that she didn't have enough to do it on her own.

Freya and Davina looked at each other before they joined hands with her and began chanting her spell with her.

Combining the power of the three witches together was enough to reach all three dragons instead of just the one.

As they watched, the dragons went up in smoke.

One of Malivore's creatures must be able to control the weather because a sudden downpour erupted.

A battalion of trolls were sent out of the portals in droves.

The sound of all the monsters being attacked by the wolves, vamps, and witches had been _loud_. The noise of the trolls attacking made the sounds louder as they began to throw people and grab at them to tear apart.

Hope started the spell, hoping enough time had passed for Lizzie and her team to get into the pit already. 

" _Diviser ak konkerani. Chire apa ak yo. Ak konkerani. Ak yo…"_

Malivore struggled to focus on controlling his creatures and fighting the pull of Hope's spell at the same time.

Hope struggled to get the consciousness out, to be ready when Lizzie got back, but Malivore was one stubborn being. 

When he tried to get to Ethan, Hope threw a dagger at him. He landed on the ground dead for the moment. Lizzie still wasn't back yet, so Hope bought herself some time before working on the spell again. She needed to get it just right. She knew she was on the verge of breaking through, but she still needed a place to put him.

Two trolls broke through Kaleb and Rafael's defenses and no amount of shooting on Clarke's part would stop them.

Hope turned around when she heard the loud banging of fists against her barrier. _Trolls_. She recognized them immediately. Seeing them and feeling the rain, she raised her arms and focused. The rain stopped and the sun came out, turning all of the trolls to stone.

In the school bus, Emma was projecting Dorian onto the field as Alyssa projected Alaric.

Seylah was on top of the bus, shooting using Mac's rifle. She wanted to fight but knew she needed to be near Emma in case the spell was needed.

Out on the field, Dorian called out to a wolf who was struggling with a creature. "That's a Balachko. A three-headed giant that spits fire and breathes cold wind. Let it do the fire and wind, then it'll be weak and you can kill it anyway you want."

Alaric called to a vampire, "That's a Cyclops! Go for the eye!"

"Gorgon!" Alaric called next. "Chop its head off!"

Marcel and Kol pulled a monster apart by each gripping one arm.

"Haven't had this much fun in years," Marcel said.

"I'll show you fun," Rebekah said. She marched up behind another one and tore the arms off herself. "Some of us don't need help."

"She's feisty when she's showing off," Marcel said to Kol.

"Save me the flirtatious bantering," Kol said. "You're married. Just kill all these things then you can go show off without involving me."

Lizzie, Jed, and MG problem wasn't finding portals.

Their problem was getting to them before they closed because the monsters kept getting in the way.

Lizzie finally yanked a piece of hair out of each boy's head.

"Not the hair!" they both cried out, horrified.

"Go! Find a portal to jump into. We can't jump in together, but I'll find you using these," Lizzie insisted.

They nodded and went off to find one.

She turned and ran to find a portal for herself. Finally, she saw one and raced to get to it before it could close.

The monster that came out of it was fighting a vampire so it was getting out slowly.

She didn't hesitate, just immediately jumped, both feet aiming for the black pool. She braced herself, wondering what it would be like.

Then she slammed _hard_ into the surface of the blackness.

Her feet landed, as if on the ground. She wasn't falling into endless darkness, she hadn't even moved past ground level. She didn't go anywhere. The portal wasn't liquid for her. It was solid.

She couldn't get in.

" _No!_ " she shrieked. She jumped up and down, trying to break through. She siphoned from a passing creature then directed all her magic at the ground beneath her feet. 

" _Liquefy!_ "

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

She looked around for the guys and saw they were having the same problem.

"It's not working!" Jed said, trying to jump up and down himself, then squatting and punching at the ground. That definitely didn't work.

MG looked at Lizzie apologetically. He had told her everything would be okay. This changed things. If they couldn't get into the pit, they couldn't get Malivore's body and they couldn't save Chad.

Lizzie stomped her foot. She screwed up. This had happened because Malivore knew what she tried to do before. He had been building himself up, hadn't he? Getting stronger. Making sure he had absolute control, down to _who_ was allowed to enter his hell dimension.

Jed looked back and forth between them. "Plan B?"

Lizzie screamed out in frustration, then turned and stomped off back towards Hope.

"Was it something I said?" Jed asked MG.

MG just shook his head.

Malivore exploded into a burst of flames, and then quickly stood up out of his rock mold. "Well, dragons didn't work, and neither did the trolls. These next creatures proved pretty effective," Malivore opened up a portal in the sky and released the Birds or Ares.

Hope looked up, "Crap."

"Oh no," Lizzie said, looking up. "Those damn birds." She dropped the invisibility spell. "We need to get to Hope."

"Jed, get out of here," MG picked up Lizzie and went speeding back to Hope.

"Something's happening with our A Team," Mac said. "I saw the shock of white blonde hair."

Clarke looked over and followed her line of sight.

Jed was standing there looking bewildered.

"Where're the other two?" he asked.

Mac followed her sight around. "They took off pretty fast but…" she paused. "Near your girl."

Clarke swung his sight back over. Lizzie was trying to get to Hope through the throng of monsters and none of the trio had Malivore's original body. That could only mean one thing.

Something went wrong.

Clarke looked down. He had known in his bones it would come to this. But he was hoping it wouldn't.

"If you need more ammo, use my gun," he said.

"Where're you going?" Mac asked.

"To end this." He activated his ring, making himself invisible so he could get through without having to fight his way. He would just have to dodge the falling arrows until someone took the birds out.

Seeing the birds flying toward the bus, Seylah shot at as many as she could before she had to get down and inside or chance being killed. When she got inside though, the arrows hit the roof but went through the windows too. The witches broke concentration and Alaric and Dorian were back in their bodies.

"What happened?" Alaric asked.

"What do you think?" Alyssa asked, pulling back in disgust at having to hold _his_ hands for so long for the spell. _Ugh_.

"Emma!" Dorian grabbed at her where she had fallen.

"Is she okay?" Alaric said.

Dorian felt for her pulse, "She's alive, but she was hit with one of the arrows. She's not awake. I think it'll be okay to remove it, but I need your help."

Alaric looked up at Seylah in alarm. "She can't do the spell."

Seylah nodded. "Okay."

She turned, put her rifle down, and grabbed a gun.

"What are you doing?" Alaric asked, unable to get to her as Dorian was blocking the aisle.

"If Plan A fails," Seylah said, "I told you no one is hurting my boy."

"We'll get Alyssa to do the spell!" Alaric said.

"She is a child," Seylah said. "You said yourself she's not experienced."

"Hey!" Alyssa said, insulted.

Seylah didn't stop again, she just kept going.

"Seylah! No!" Alaric tried to get to her. "Don't hurt her!"

She didn't reply, just sprinted off the bus and ran toward Hope.

"Ric!" Dorian hollered. "I need you!"

"She's going after Hope!" Alaric said.

"And she'll fail! She's human, Hope's more powerful, and there's an entire army out there that has her back!" Dorian argued. "Emma is the one who needs help right now!"

Alaric clenched his eyes tight and nodded. Dorian was right. Hope would be okay. He needed to help Emma.

"We've got to do something about the birds!" Josie exclaimed to Freya and Davina.

"Hold hands and repeat after me," Freya said. " _Merculae aspectu, Merculae aspectu, proselytum_."

The three of them held hands and chanted Freya's spell.

The magic rose and stretched out, spreading up and surrounding all the birds. As they chanted and watched, the birds of Ares changed from birds with arrows for wings to hundreds of black birds who chirped as they flew off, far far away.

Hope was back to struggling to get Malivore's consciousness out.

He taunted her, "You'll never remove me. You're not strong enough."

"Wanna bet?" Hope's rage grew and she didn't think as it mixed with the spell, not realizing her eyes had become completely black.

"Hope! Stop!" Lizzie grasped her shoulder, eyes wide at seeing Hope's. "It didn't work. We couldn't get it out."

The blackness left her eyes, and she stared at Lizzie uncomprehending.

"We couldn't get into the pit," Lizzie said. "He blocked us."

Hope nodded. She slowly pulled around the bow and reached for the arrow she magic'd to stay in her quiver until she needed it.

"Hope," Lizzie's eyes grew at seeing the arrow.

"I'll wait for the signal," Hope said softly. "Now, stand back."

Lizzie did more than that. She made her way to Josie. She still needed her blood, and they had to do the spell to combine all four. They were going to need it now. She hoped Rafael got to Hope before she shot Landon though.

Malivore, seeing her intention, rose his wings up again, only to be hit with the hose of water once more. Ethan was ready that time.

Wade made his way next to Ethan. "I think I can float him again."

"Get over there," Ethan said. "I'll hose him 'til you do."

Wade made a determined face and went over, avoiding the water spray. He nodded at Ethan who shut off the water.

_Poof!_

Wade covered Malivore in a burst of fairy dust that had him floating once more.

Hope nodded at them, "Thanks."

She cast a spell to hold Malivore in place so he couldn't float away.

According to Josie, she had twenty minutes before he could do anything again. He couldn't even open more portals right now.

She shot up a burst of fireworks that was the signal she told Doctor Saltzman would indicate Emma should do the spell for Seylah to take Landon's place.

Waiting for time to pass in the middle of a battle turned out to be one of the harder things she had done. She turned to look around at the fight, wishing she could be out there instead of standing where she was, waiting to kill the mother of a boy who had meant so much to her.

She used her magic to help those fighting from afar, doing what she could while she waited, but she still hadn't seen an answering signal. It shouldn't take Emma this long. What was wrong?

She was rammed in the left side.

Gripping hold of the arrow despite being off balanced, she fell over and suddenly had to fight to keep the arrow from being taken from her.

Seylah was struggling to get it out of her hand.

"Stop!" Hope cried out, struggling and maintaining her grip but not putting much effort into maiming Seylah. 

"What are you doing?" She didn't want to hurt her.

"Emma is hurt, can't do the spell," Seylah gritted her teeth.

 _Oh_ , Hope bit her lip.

"Seylah, I have to," Hope said, struggling. "I have to end this."

Hope finally started fighting back. She got her feet up under Seylah's stomach and pushed with all her might. The woman flew through the air and landed on her back.

Hope scrambled to her feet and started to latch the arrow on the bow.

"Aunt Seylah, stop!" Ethan hollered just as Hope heard a loud bang.

Turning, Hope stopped the bullet in midair. She stared at Seylah in dismay. She actually shot at her.

Kaleb turned when he heard the shot but breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Hope was okay. How someone had gotten to Hope… he saw Seylah then. No wonder. Friendly fire…or not so friendly.

Grateful that MG and Jed had joined him, Jade, and Rafael, he turned back to fight again. He had maimed, broken necks, and shoved his hand through chests to rip out hearts countless times that day.

Rafael had been waling on monster after monster with his bat. His strength had some of them flying back with the force or crippled. When MG had joined them and shook his head, he knew what that meant. The first plan had failed. He needed to find a way to distract Hope.

Suddenly it seemed as though the monsters weren't fighting him anymore. He looked around and saw that the creatures were still trying to get through to Hope, but they were going after the other guys, _not_ him.

A disquieting feeling came over him and he looked around, feeling like he was being watched. The feeling was oddly familiar.

 _There_.

He saw him.

The Necromancer.

A chill ran down his spine.

He didn't remember ever seeing him before, only had Hope's illustration of him to go by, but it was him. That creepy face was grinning at him.

Hope had said he was gone forever…in the pit. That Malivore would never let him back out because he had tried to control him.

She had been wrong.

And Rafael was still under his control.

The sorcerer didn't have to speak, only gave a knowing look, and suddenly Rafael was turning back toward Hope against his will, easily making his way through friend and foe.

As he approached her from behind, he couldn't help but think Clarke probably didn't have this in mind when he told them to distract her.

Hope whispered, "I'm sorry," to Seylah before she cast the spell to knock her out.

She looked down as she latched the arrow to the bow, surprised her fingers weren't shaking. She didn't know what would become of Malivore once she shot this arrow, but she knew one thing with absolute certainty.

Landon would die.

By her hand.

She had prepared for this. Pegasus, Joan of Wad, Fenrir. The countless others who had died at her hand. It was all for this, this moment. To prepare her for killing someone she loved. For making the choice to put everyone else, possibly the entire world, above his life.

She could do it. She _had_ to do it.

But she _really_ didn't want to.

" _Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do because you're the only one who can do them."_

Her mother had taught her that, a long time ago.

She braced herself and pulled back on the bowstring.

"Hope!" Lizzie exclaimed. The spell was cast, the blood was ready. She hadn't seen Clarke since before the fighting started, but she knew he would be there any minute. Someone had to stop Hope before she killed Landon and it led to her own death. _Where was Rafael with that distraction?!_

"I have to, Lizzie," Hope shouted out while taking aim. "Don't try to stop me!"

Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Rafael _finally_ approaching Hope from behind. _Thank God_ …. Wait.

"Raf! What are you doing!?" Lizzie screamed right before Rafael hit Hope in the back with his bat.

Aim flying completely off course as she let the arrow go, Hope fell face down, crumbling at the pain.

Lizzie ran forward and jumped on Rafael's back. "This wasn't what he meant! Stop! What are you doing?"

Rafael easily shook her off, but not before she siphoned some magic out of him.

She didn't have a chance to use it because Hope was up again. 

" _Expello!"_

Rafael went flying back.

"Raf, I'm sorry, I have to," Hope said.

He got up, but he didn't say anything, just tried to come after her again. His eyes were blank.

"He's not himself," Hope said, squinting at him. " _Expello!_ "

He flew back again but just got back to his feet once more.

"Ya think?" Lizzie exclaimed.

Hope looked around and she didn't have to look far. Ted was a diva, a show off. He would _want_ Hope to know he was behind this. He had sent Rafael after her on purpose. No... Malivore had made Ted send Rafael after her on purpose. Rafael could get through the barrier where the other creatures couldn't.

Malivore must've commanded him before he was floated again.

She could try to kill Ted, but he could kill Rafael at any moment in the process.

But she had to retrieve the arrow wherever it went and shoot Landon with it.

She glanced back and forth between Rafael and the area she had shot the arrow.

"Go," Lizzie said, "Help Raf. I'll find the arrow."

"Get it to me as soon as you find it," Hope said, glancing at Malivore. "He's not going to float much longer."

Lizzie nodded, having absolutely no intention of doing that.

Rafael took that moment to come after Hope again, and she shrugged off the bow, dropping it to the ground, and launched into the fight. If Ted wanted a fight, she would put on the performance of her life to keep Rafael occupied until she found a way to kill Ted once and for all. She just needed to get closer to Ted to do it.

And then she would kill Landon.

Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Hope and Rafael start to fight. Each blow and hit taking them further away, out of the dome and into the fray.

"Damn it, Clarke," Lizzie looked around. "Where are you?"

"Here," he said, startling her as he deactivated his ring. He had seen Rafael attack Hope. He knew she could take it, but it still hurt to see it. He was glad to know it wasn't Rafael's choice to distract her by beating her with a bat. Clarke definitely _hadn't_ meant to distract her by hurting her.

"Roll up your sleeve," she said. "The fairy dust is going to wear off any minute."

She looked up and motioned for Ethan who nodded. She looked over at Josie. Her twin didn't need to be told, she just _knew_. Josie nodded and started making her way over. She looked at MG and blasted the monster he was fighting with magic to get his attention. He nodded and called out to the guys before he ducked out of the fight to make his way over too.

Clarke did as she instructed then waited as she drew the symbol of permanent death—the mark of Malivore—on the inside of his left arm with the blood the twins had magically bound together.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she mumbled the entire time.

She finished the drawing, glaring at it, then up at him. "Any last words?"

"Tell her I said to bury me this time," he said, staring down at the symbol.

"She's never going to forgive us," Lizzie said.

"She will," he said. "Forgiveness is part of her nature."

"Yeah, until she's hurt enough to change it," Lizzie said.

"It's the only way," he reminded her.

"The spell she used didn't work though," Lizzie said. "I don't know how you expect me and Josie to make it work when _she_ couldn't."

It looked like Hope had been about to use black magic with the spell instead of earth magic, and that had scared her a little because Hope didn't _know_ the black magic spell. Had she been about to do black magic without a spell?

"Do the spell to weaken him," he said. "Then siphon Landon. Leave the rest to me. He'll take the bait."

"If you say so," she said. She waved a hand over the drawing, drying the blood and sealing it to his skin. Then she pulled the sleeve down so no one—especially Malivore—could see it.

"Josie has the knife?" Clarke asked.

"She does," Lizzie said. She knew Josie would probably enjoy that part a little too much.

"Good," he said. "She's the only one who won't hesitate."

"You're not wrong."

"Give me a couple minutes to talk to him before you start," he said.

"Okay," she nodded then walked away.

He moved his right hand over to the ring on his left. Adjusting it, he willed a new illusion, for his father and him alone to see.

His father was suddenly surrounded by tall metal prison bars, with nothing to see past the bars except for Clarke, standing on the outside, looking in.

Then he waited.

The dust finally wore off and Malivore got to his feet.

"Hello, Father."

Malivore didn't reply. He was too busy taking stock of his new situation and figuring out what happened in the time the fairy had bested him this time.

"No response?" Clarke asked with a sly smile. "Perhaps because we haven't been formally introduced this time around. I'm Ryan. Ryan Clarke. You can call me Clarke."

Malivore looked unamused as he glanced around, taking in the cell he was standing in.

"Another prison," Malivore said.

"I saw you imprisoned once before," Clarke said. "Only fitting I do it again."

"No hiding behind humans and witches this time?" Malivore smirked.

"You used to terrify me," Clarke said.

"I still do," Malivore said.

"No," Clarke shook his head. "You've been beaten back today by a bunch of teenagers. You aren't as powerful as you think."

"But she is?" Malivore asked. "The tribrid, she keeps trying. But even she can't defeat me. Is that why you're here? Do you think you can?"

"She can, but this shouldn't be her fight," Clarke said. "This _isn't_ her fight. This is mine. I've spent years cowering, dreading the day you rose. Scrambling to do your bidding for just one scrap of approval. But you were never going to give me that. Because I have never been enough for you."

"You weren't the son I wanted," Malivore said nonplussed, "and because of that, all you are is just mud. Dirt. Worthless. Nothing."

"And I believed you," Clarke said. "But you're wrong. She showed me that."

Around the illusion, Clarke could see when the twins began the spell. Each girl holding onto one of the boys as the source of their power.

Malivore looked around, confused, feeling what was happening but not understanding.

"It's the cage. It's unfortunate. You're trapped in there as your power is slowly draining away."

The girls lightly touched Malivore's back and began to siphon Landon's power.

Malivore could feel the magic draining from his host as he fought against the cage's punishment. It felt familiar.

"You're trying to move me," Malivore looked around. "But you have nowhere to put me."

"I do," Clarke said with a knowing look.

"You want to be my vessel."

"Not particularly. But I don't have a choice. It's me or her."

Malivore was swaying now. He couldn't hold on anymore, whatever the cage was doing, it was winning.

"And I'd never let her die."

Knowing now that if he were put into the 'other' boy death was imminent, he sent out a last minute command to one of his creatures. The boy, he had indicated the tribrid cared for him. If there was one thing he knew about the tribrid, her heart was her weakness. She would never let someone die in her place, not if she knew about it.

Hope hated that she had to fight Rafael like this. She had never sparred with him before, but he was coming at her again and again. She needed to stop the fight and kill Ted, but she hadn't been able to figure out how to do it without Ted killing Rafael.

"Uh oh, rules changed," The Necromancer said before flicking a finger.

Rafael's head jerked to the side, snapped. Dead in an instant.

"Raf?" Hope stopped and grabbed at him as he fell. She crouched to the ground with him, unable to believe he was actually dead.

But he was.

Glaring up at Ted, Hope cried out, "Why!?"

"Because my master needs your help," Ted said, looking extremely annoyed and bored.

"I'd never help him," Hope said between clenched teeth, gripping Rafael tightly.

"But you might, knowing what his boy is trying to do," Ted said. "It'd be a shame if you don't make it there in time. Your father actually likes this one."

He had to mean Ryan. Hope slowly stood and looked back toward the boundary circle. Ryan was there with Lizzie, Josie, MG, and Ethan in some sort of stand off with Malivore. _What_ …

Looking down at her feet and seeing Rafael again, her eyes flashed black and she reached up.

Behind her, Ted clutched at his head as the aneurysm spell tore his brain apart. She had no reason to keep him alive anymore, not when he had killed Rafael. She started walking away, still holding her hand up.

Then she made a fist and Ted's head exploded. Her eyes cleared and she started running.

What were they doing? Why hadn't Lizzie found the golden arrow and gotten it to her? Why were none of the creatures attacking her as she made her way back to the dome? The four were with him, the descendants of the ones who created Malivore to begin with. But they didn't have Malivore's golem body, so why… _Ryan_.

Her heart nearly stopped. Ryan was a golem. Linked to Malivore. They were going to use Ryan's body since they couldn't get the real one.

" _Ryan!_ " she screamed, running faster now, as fast as she could but…

She could see it happening and there was no way to stop it. The twins had done it. She could see the purple glow from where she was. They had removed Malivore's consciousness and they were putting it right into Ryan.

" _No!"_ She couldn't get there fast enough. It was too late.

Without hesitation, Josie moved swiftly forward and stabbed Clarke in the heart to put Malivore out of commission as they did the next part.

Josie helped MG hold him up.

Lizzie grabbed Clarke's left arm and pulled it out towards her, pushing up the sleeve.

Josie slammed her right hand down on the mark first, then Ethan on top of hers, then MG on top of that, and finally Lizzie. The twins siphoned from the boys, linking the four of them together, so that all four were a part of the magic that flowed into Josie's hand.

"Now!" Lizzie said, and they all moved as one, wiping the mark clear.

Josie and MG let go of Clarke, but Lizzie kept hold of his arm and tried to ease him to the ground instead of letting him fall.

She looked up then and saw Hope standing there panting, only just arriving. Her face was stricken, the anguish so horrible it hurt Lizzie to even look at.

Lizzie had no words. She couldn't even apologize. She knew it wouldn't be enough.

Hope couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She could only stare at him.

She didn't know it was possible to hurt this much.

He was gone, wasn't he? He had sacrificed himself…for her, hadn't he?

She remembered their conversation that morning.

" _You really expect me to be okay with that?_ "

He loved her so much, he did this because he knew there was a chance she would die. She knew that deep down. 

He told her once that she was his purpose. So, if she were to die… He knew she might die and he couldn't live without her.

Didn't he know? 

She couldn't live without him either. 

Not now. Not when…

She loved him too.

_"You know that feeling inside? Like a balloon constantly filling up, always on the verge of popping?"_

_"Let it pop."_

Hope closed her eyes. 

She had _enough_. 

She had lost too many, lost too much.

She screamed.

The power moved like a tidal wave, rushing out of her, pushing out in all directions, spreading out across the entire battlefield and then some.

Every last creature from Malivore was hit with it, and every single one of them was brought to their knees, frozen, immobile.

Everyone else turned and looked toward the source of the power surge in awe.

Hope finally finished screaming, breathing hard, feeling lightheaded.

She was _done_.

"That's right!" MG called out, grabbing hold of Kaleb's arm, excited that it was finally over and they had won. "Bow before your queen!"

" _Damn_ ," Kaleb said, looking around in amazement.

Then Hope passed out.


	29. Hello, Brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words. ___

His eyes hurt.

A bright light consumed his vision, one as bright as the one that shone around Josie Saltzman when she siphoned the crystal to cleanse her of all black magic. It didn't hurt as much as it did then, but it still made him close his eyes against it before looking down and away.

 _Curious._ He was standing in the middle of a small creek bed. Water running so clear, he could see the long polished pebbles beneath the surface.

The water wasn't deep by any means, just about mid-calf high. He made his way to the embankment, stepped out of the water, and then turned around to take in the entire view.

He knew this place.

Hundreds of years ago, after spending his days learning how to read, he would come to this place for a few hours to be alone with his thoughts.

The mud in the embankment had been his temporary paper, a stick his only pen.

He picked up a stick and sat, staring down at the wetness until he began to draw.

He drew a rough sketch of a stick figure man, whispering the word " _father_ " as he went.

He paused when he finished, admiring his work, then moved to another wet area and began again.

" _Jakob_ ," he said, using the name for himself that the village elder had given him.

Sitting back, he thought over everything he had been learning. Not of the words, but of the people of the village. He learned that the little people were children and that over time they would grow up to be the big people, just like how he was now.

He learned the word _family_. That all families had a father and a mother first, the children came after.

Looking down at the ground, he began to draw again.

Another stick figure, standing on the other side of _Jakob_.

When he finished, he pulled back and stared down at it, mouthing the new word.

" _Mother._ "

The Elder had said all children had one of those. So, why didn't he have one?

His first memory was the first day of his existence. His father wiped away the muck. There had been nothing else. No one else.

Ryan dropped the stick and stood up, frowning down at young Jakob's temporary portrait.

Why was he thinking of long ago memories of his uneducated mind? He had much to learn at that point, obviously, including that he wasn't born into a family or raised from infant to adult like a normal human child.

In fact, there was nothing human about him besides his visage. He couldn't even procreate like them. He had the means by which to perform the act but not the means to actually create life.

Shaking his head of his musings, he tried to remember what was happening.

_Oh yeah._

He died.

He had let the descendants of his father's creators use his body as a vessel to destroy his father once and for all.

So, what was he now?

By rights, he shouldn't even be aware. He should have ceased to exist right along with his father, or just 'exist in the ether' as Hope had said to him once long ago before either of them had discovered feelings for the other.

_Hope._

He wasn't going to see her ever again, was he?

Of all the things he had learned in his eight hundred or so years of life, the things he learned with her had affected him the most. He learned he had value, that he was capable of love, that he was worthy of _being_ loved.

And he learned to have actual hope for the future. That, for once, something he wanted was truly within his grasp. He had always wanted his father's love and acceptance, but he had known deep down inside he would probably never get it.

With her, he dared to dream.

Dream of a life spent loving each other and being their own family. He even dreamed about children with her despite her insistence of not wanting any. Not that he could provide them, but he could raise them and love them with her. He knew there were other children out there like him—ones without a family to love them. He knew how to do it now. He knew how to love. He could do it. He _would_ do it.

But it had been stupid of him to dream. It was all over.

The universe owed him nothing.

"You're made up of more than your father."

Completely taken by surprise, he jumped back and looked toward the giant outcropping of rocks a few yards down that sat upon the embankment. He used those very rocks to lay and sun himself some days. Drying off before returning to the village for the evening.

There was a woman sitting on them now, staring out across the creek bed, dressed in forest green, with long brown hair flowing down her back.

"Who are you?"

"You are, you know," she said, ignoring his question. "Made up of more than him."

"Yeah," he scoffed. "Mud."

"Earth," she said. "You're made up of earth, Ryan."

He looked around, "Not Jakob?" If this was a memory he had forgotten of that time, shouldn't she be calling him that instead of his current name?

"I've known all your names," she said. "And I know you prefer Ryan most of all."

"I don't get it. I don't know you," he said. He really didn't. His memory was photographic. He would've remembered her if he had ever met her before. "Why would you care?"

"Isn't it beautiful?" She looked around, ignoring his question once again. "A simple little creek surrounded by some of earth's most amazing creations. Shows the true power of earth's magic, doesn't it?"

He nodded cautiously.

"In darkness," she said, "connected to your father as you were, there were consequences. Black magic _always_ has consequences. One of which made you unreachable. In fact, if it weren't for you finally accepting the light, you'd be gone now. For good."

"We used earth magic for the spell," he realized. "The twin..."

"The Gemini twins are adoptive children of earth. They have long been protectors of this world, each pair making the ultimate sacrifice to keep the darkness out," she said. "Unfortunately, that same darkness overwhelms them."

"You speak of consequences," he said. "What are the others? And why would you want to reach me?"

"You're more powerful than you know," she said. "You've just been shrouded in darkness too long."

He contemplated her words, looking back at the creek bed, trying to understand what she was telling him. And slowly…slowly, the pieces came together and everything clicked.

"You're her, aren't you?" he asked, startled and amazed. "I actually _do_ have a mother. That's why the vision. The memory."

"The earth is mother to a great many things," she replied. "But you're her only son."

He needed a minute to take this all in.

She was telling him that _earth_ itself was his mother. That the very mud part he had always hated was actually from her. That because of his link to his father—the father that had been created in black magic—she had never been able to reach him before now. She was telling him that with the death of his father, the link was severed.

That he had survived.

"I'm alive?" he realized, breathing out the words, unsure if he should dare to even _try_ to hope again.

"You are," she said.

"Does this mean…" he immediately thought of Hope, "I can be with her."

"That's up to her," she smiled for the first time, knowing exactly of whom he spoke. "But I'm sure you have nothing to fear. She's one of nature's greatest and most powerful creations. That was no accident. Her father's redemption, yes, but there's no one else on earth like her, the only one of her kind. Just like you…

"Nature always finds a loophole, or so I've heard," she continued, still smiling softly. "And she didn't want her son to be alone."

It wasn't as if he needed any further proof that Hope was the one meant for him, but if he did, he just received it.

"Your father's gone, but his legacy lives on," she said solemnly. "What you do with it, is entirely up to you."

He didn't quite understand what she was saying, but he would figure it out eventually. She had a way of speaking where she let him draw his own conclusions.

"How can I see you again?" he asked, looking around. He wasn't sure where he was, somewhere in Europe he guessed. How he got there, he didn't know, but he had to make his way back to Hope immediately. First, though, he needed to make sure he could reach his mother again whenever he wanted to.

"I'm all around you," she replied.

"I mean, _talk_ to you?" he asked.

"Just go to sleep, Ryan," she said. "You can find me in your dreams."

"I don't dream," he said.

"What do you think you're doing now?"

* * *

When he opened his eyes, it was to a world that was completely familiar but, in so many ways, a million times different.

There was something else different too. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

There was a lot to take in and reevaluate.

He had a mother.

He was alive.

He had to get to Hope.

He attempted to sit up but found himself sprawled on the ground again.

Lizzie, seeing his movement, immediately pressed her foot on his shoulder, pushing him back down.

She glared at him cautiously, "Malivore?"

"No," he shook his head. "It's me."

"Prove it," she said, not letting up.

"You suggested to Hope I wasn't capable of satisfying her in the bedroom," he said, with his usual sarcastic smirk of a glare that he generally directed at this particular twin. "Looking forward to proving you wrong tonight."

"Yep," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes and removing her foot. "That's Clarke."

She reached down to offer him a hand.

Glancing at it cautiously, he grasped hold and allowed her to help him stand.

"Never thought I'd be glad to know _you're_ alive," she said. Relieved didn't even _begin_ to describe what she was feeling. Whereas before she had been dreading it, now she couldn't _wait_ for Hope to wake up.

"Uh, thanks?" he started to pull his hand away, but then he remembered. He grasped hold of her hand again, this time for an entirely different reason.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

"You're…welcome?" she looked at him strangely.

"The earth magic," he said. "It made all the difference."

"Told you so," she smirked.

"That you did," he nodded.

He let go and looked around.

The fighting had ended while he was down. All of the monsters were on their knees, frozen. Everyone else seemed to be a cross between happy, confused, and cautious.

"What did all this?" he asked, wondering if it was a side effect of Malivore being destroyed.

" _She_ did," Lizzie nodded toward Hope.

Kaleb had picked Hope up but didn't know what to do with her.

Everyone else was trying to decide what to do next. Malivore was defeated, but there were still plenty of creatures that had been released from the pit strewn across the field. They didn't know how long the spell Hope put on them would last. They didn't know if they should kill all of the monsters while they were frozen or wait until the spell wore off in case the creatures didn't _want_ to fight now that they were no longer under Malivore's control. They really needed their fearless leader to wake up and tell them what to do.

Lizzie was at a loss, and so was Josie. They helped with the planning, but the war and killing—that was all Hope.

Seeing Hope passed out in Kaleb's arms, Clarke immediately went to her.

Lizzie looked after him and a small smile spread across her lips.

 _Hope, Clarke, and_ … she glanced over to the other figure on the ground, sitting up with help from Wade… _Landon._

All three were alive.

"Well, Daddy," she murmured to herself. "Looks like I was right. I _could_ save them all."

Clarke was taking Hope from Kaleb's arms even before he started speaking.

"I've got her. What's wrong with her?" Clarke asked.

"She let out this insane burst of magic, man," Kaleb shook his head, giving her over. "Guess it was too much for her because she passed out right after."

Clarke nodded, relieved. He held her body close. She was going to be okay. He just had to wait for her to wake up.

Landon had resigned himself to never seeing the light of day again. Having no way to judge the amount of time that passed, he wondered aimlessly through the darkness completely and totally alone. As time wore on though, he knew his attempt to get Clarke to kill their father by killing him must have failed. He prayed he at least succeeded in saving Hope.

He accepted that Malivore had won until things had changed today. He could feel something moving through him—feel his body for once. He actually saw Hope for a brief moment. His vision flashed in and out of the scene. She _was_ alive, and she was trying to save him. That was Hope alright, a hero to the very end.

The feeling was fleeting, but it was enough for him to know. This would be over soon.

The next time things changed, his view was quite different. Instead of Hope, he saw Clarke, and he was feeling incredibly weak. He knew that feeling. Lizzie had siphoned his power once before. She was doing it again, but she was taking _way_ more than she ever had before. Despite the weakness, he could feel his body again, every single bit of it, and he wasn't fading back into the darkness.

Suddenly the siphoning stopped and he knew. Malivore was gone. He was free.

Well, except for the weird prison he seemed to be standing in the middle of.

The weakness proved too much and he must have blacked out because the next thing he knew he was being pulled to a sitting position by Wade and the prison was gone.

Looking around, he tried to take everything in at once.

"Wade," he said. "What's going on?"

"Malivore is dead," Wade replied. "They're trying to decide what to do with his creatures."

He was sitting in the middle of a giant field and there were people everywhere. Most of them, he didn't know.

He was also soaking wet.

The water tank he saw behind Wade must be to thank for that.

"Where's…" he trailed off when he saw her.

Hope was passed out, and Clarke was holding her.

He sprang to his feet and went to her.

"Is she okay?" he asked as he approached.

Clarke regarded his brother with a wary look. 

"She'll wake soon."

"Isn't there some place you can put her down?" Landon asked. He _would_ try to take her from him, but he didn't want to get her soaked too.

"She's right where she needs to be," Clarke said with a hard look.

"What does that even mean?" Landon stepped back, getting a weird feeling.

Hope began to stir right then, shifting as she felt strangely weightless. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the chest her face was pressed against. Her eyes rose and she saw the face of the person holding her.

"Ryan?" she asked, barely daring to hope.

He smiled down at her. "Yeah, it's me."

"Ryan!" She tried to sit up and throw her arms around his neck at the same time.

Clarke let her legs down gently and wrapped his arms around her too.

Landon stepped back again, that weird feeling growing to something that landed quite painfully in the pit of his stomach. _What was going on_?

"You're alive!" She pulled back to look up at Ryan. Her smile was wide, bright, and relieved.

"I don't know how," he shook his head, still in disbelief at everything that had happened. "The Sphinx said someone had to die."

Her smile dimmed.

"Rafael…"

"What about Raf?" Landon may not know how to deal with what was happening right in front of him, but he wasn't going to be silent when his _real_ brother, his best friend, was mentioned in the next breath after _dying_.

Hope finally noticed him. "Landon…"

"What about _Raf_?" he asked again, desperate for _something_ to feel right about the world he woke up into.

"Follow me," she said, pulling back from Ryan. Unable to let him go completely, she took his hand to bring him along with her.

When they found him, Landon immediately knelt by his side. All the horror and sci-fi movies he ever saw hadn't prepared him for this. Seeing someone who meant the world to him dead at his feet. Despite seeing it done a million times on screen, he didn't know how to check for a pulse but, given the angle of Rafael's neck, it didn't matter.

It proved too much for him. Tears pooled in his eyes and his head dropped.

"Where's Josie?" Hope asked no one in particular, looking around.

"I'm here," Josie said, breaking through the small crowd of schoolmates that had gathered.

"He was with you before the fighting started," Hope said. "Do you know if he took it?"

"I…don't know," Josie said. "I know Jade did, but I was distracted when Malivore started waking up."

"How about we get him out of here?" Clarke said, immediately noting a potential problem. If Rafael _had_ taken Hope's blood, too many people had seen him dead out here. If he all of a sudden woke up on the field and was fine, people would start asking questions. Word could spread. The crescent pack may already know—or some of them at least—but the rest of the factions didn't need to know. Loyalty only went so far.

"Move him to one of the cars, just in case," he said, casting a meaningful look at Hope.

She nodded.

"We've got him," MG said, as he and Jed moved forward.

Jed placed a hand on Landon's shoulder. "We'll take care of him for you."

Landon looked up, noting the irony of _Jed_ of all people trying to comfort him.

"Follow us," Jed said as he squatted at Rafael's feet and MG did so at his head.

They lifted his body and carried him away. Landon followed, looking lost and confused.

Hope sank back against Ryan as she watched them go. She felt so bad for Landon. He came back to a world where Raf was dead and she had moved on with Ryan. She knew she was going to have to talk to him later. It was over between them, had really been over since before Malivore took control, but things had never been properly settled. She needed to give him a chance at closure. She owed him that.

"Hope," Lizzie stepped forward after wiping away her tears and trying to gather her composure. "We don't know what to do with them." She gestured out to the field. "How long will your spell last?"

Hope looked around. "Honestly, I have no idea. I wasn't really thinking when I did that." The grief had overwhelmed her. She had lashed out with all the anger and sadness she felt. She pressed back even more into Ryan, clutching at the arms he wrapped around her. _He's alive!_ She could scarcely believe it.

"Don't suppose you've got a pit of your own we can drop them into," Jade joked to Clarke.

" _Your father's gone, but his legacy lives on. What you do with it, is entirely up to you."_

"Actually…" He remembered waking up, thinking something was different.

He focused on that feeling, not sure of anything at all, but gave it a shot anyway. He looked at an empty area on the ground, away from everyone, and commanded something imaginary in his mind to open.

Everyone jumped back when a black portal opened suddenly.

"Did you do that?" Hope gasped, looking up at him in shock.

"Yeah," he said. "My father is gone…but his legacy lives on apparently."

"Bro, send those creatures back _now_ ," Kaleb said.

"But that means…" Lizzie stepped forward, eyes widening as she met Hope's.

"Get Chad out!" Hope exclaimed. She turned and grabbed Clarke's arms. "Can you do it?!"

"I'm sure, just new at this," he said.

"You get him out and I take back every bad thing I ever said about you," Lizzie said. She didn't even remember the first time she met Chad, but she _had_ told him she would do everything she could to save him. Take backs were covered under "everything".

"Do you really think I care about that?" he asked.

"Maybe not," Lizzie said. "But I'm one of Hope's best friends, and I can make your life completely miserable otherwise."

He had to admit, _that_ threat was valid. The she-beast had a way of intruding upon _everything_.

"Give me a minute," he murmured to Hope.

This was going to require more focus. He had to think about the inside of the pit, a place he didn't like to go. When he did though, he felt something completely different than he expected.

He reached out and grabbed at Hope to ground himself.

"What's wrong?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"I can feel them," he said, gasping at the strangeness. "I can feel them all."

"It's okay," she said. "If you need to stop, do it."

"But—" Lizzie started.

"It's _okay_ ," Hope repeated with a glare at her friend.

"No," he said. "I got it…"

"Can you find him?" she asked softly.

"I think so…" he thought about it, trying to focus. "He's there. There's another human with him… I've seen her before. My father. He used her body before he used Landon's."

Lizzie nodded, remembering Chad's friend, "That's Evelyn. She was helping Chad."

"Can you get them out?" Hope asked softly.

He focused on them, thought about the blue vortex that usually swept him up before spitting him out of the pit, and he could see in his mind's eye that it worked. The cyclone started sweeping through and picked up both humans.

The black portal that he already opened began to bubble.

"Something's happening!" Jade exclaimed.

Rising up out of the portal, completely covered in the black substance that was the pit's signature sludge, two figures stepped onto the ground and held their arms out, trying to fling the muck off.

Hope waved a hand and the sludge cleared from their faces.

Chad looked around and his face lit up. "We're out!"

Evelyn sighed in relief.

Chad saw Lizzie and went running for her, "Lizzie!"

"No," Lizzie put her hand out. "Stop, wait, no, _no!_ "

It didn't matter, Chad was too excited. He hugged her tightly.

"You couldn't have wiped away _all_ the Mali-goo first?" Lizzie glared at Hope with gritted teeth as she waited for Chad to get his enthusiasm out. He just _had_ to be a hugger.

Hope giggled despite everything.

Then found _herself_ with an arm full of Mali-goo. "Hope!" Chad exclaimed.

It was Lizzie's turn to smirk.

Hope rolled her eyes then waved her hand and cleared off the black sludge from all of them.

" _Thank_ you," Lizzie said.

Clarke cleared his throat.

"Yeah, alright," Lizzie said. "Thank you too."

"Can you work on commanding all the creatures to return to the pit?" Hope asked Clarke.

"Yeah," he nodded. "But what are you going to do?"

"The vamps would've healed by now," she looked around. "But the injured wolves and witches are going to need my help." Especially since she knew the witches would probably scoff at consuming vampire blood to heal. The blood wouldn't work on the wolves. They would need to heal on their own.

He started to speak but thought better of it when he remembered there was any number of vampires out there with perfect hearing. "Remember the mountain lion," he said instead. "Now's not the time for that."

She frowned at him.

"There are too many," he said. "And some secrets are better kept." He knew her too well. She would do everything she could to help these people but just as the truth about her blood needed to be protected, so did her ability to heal. They also didn't know how its continued use would affect her. He was a firm believer in being safe, not sorry.

She begrudgingly agreed.

"I've got supplies!" Josie called out, returning with her father. They opened huge duffel bags and started passing out everything they brought to patch up the wounded.

MG returned too, holding his phone out to Clarke. "Mom's bringing in medics to help. But she wants to talk to you."

Hope looked around while Clarke took the phone.

"Let's get to work."

* * *

Numb.

That was how Landon felt.

Completely and utterly numb.

Rafael had died while fighting a war of his father's making.

So had countless others, if what he had seen on that battlefield was anything to go by.

He shuttered to think what else his father had gotten up to while using his body as his 'meat-suit'.

He would have to take a near-boiling shower after all of this. And then repeat that three times a day at least. Repeating _that_ process every day until he felt like his body was his own again.

MG and Jed had carried Rafael to the Salvatore school bus. The automobile had seen better days. A lot of the windows were shattered and arrows poked through the roof.

He walked past Dorian who was seeing to an injured Emma as he followed the others. He was too numb to do more than look at his teachers as he passed.

He wasn't sure that Rafael would fit well laying out on any of these seats, but MG and Jed stopped at a seat that had been altered and expanded to lay him on. They turned Rafael to put him down gently on top of the blanket there.

"Hey," Alyssa called out from her spot at the front of the bus assisting Dorian since Doctor Saltzman had to leave to help the wounded.

All three boys looked at her. Their combined somber looks, and the sadness in Jed's face that his alpha was dead, hit her all at once. She paused before saying anything else.

"I'll get the elephant," Jed said, figuring she was going to complain that they were using her space for Raf. They weren't moving him, but he knew the elephant was important to her.

"I was gonna say… put it right next to him," she said instead. That elephant had gotten her through some of her worst days. It was a silly thought, but maybe Rafael could use it. "He needs it right now."

Jed nodded and found it. He put it next to Rafael. Maybe Alyssa did have a heart somewhere in there after all.

The boys all settled in seats around the wolf.

Landon sat in the one directly across, unable to take his eyes from him.

"What are we waiting for?" Landon asked softly. He hadn't been paying much attention to anything since he found Raf. It seemed like the other two were waiting for something to happen, but he didn't know what.

Jed pulled a vial out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Doctor Saltzman gave the student wolves this to take before the fight. He didn't go into much detail, but he said if we died in the battle but had taken this, we would come back to life as a hybrid with one catch—we'd have to change a hundred or so times to return to any semblance of normal. We wouldn't have complete control of our own minds until we did. Someone else could control us. Once we did, though, we'll always be able to control our change. Never change again if we didn't want to."

Landon stared from the vial to Rafael and back again. "So you mean there's a chance…"

Jed nodded. "If he took it, then he'll come back. If he does, the only way to keep living is to take another one of these."

"So…" Landon reached hesitantly toward the vial in Jed's hand.

"Take it," Jed handed it to him. "I never took mine."

"Why?" Landon had to ask in case Rafael had come to the same choice.

"My parents tried to control me my entire life even though they were barely ever there," he replied. "I didn't want to give anyone that power over me. And changing, it _hurts_. I can't go through that more than once a month."

MG's phone rang and he apologized, "Sorry. Mom knows the battle is over. She wants to help. I think."

They barely nodded at him, watching over Rafael together while MG spoke quietly.

He finally took the phone away from his ear and turned toward them.

"Mom's sending in a clean up crew with medics for the wounded and to help transport or dispose of bodies," MG said. "I've got to get back out there."

"I'm gonna help too," Jed said, rising from his seat. "Landon?"

"I'll just wait right here…" Landon stared at his brother, clutching the vial gently in his palm. "See if he wakes up."

Jed grasped Landon's shoulder again, unsure of how to respond. He knew there was a fifty/fifty chance.

"Thanks," Landon said softly.

"I'll be back to check in when this is all over," Jed said.

Landon nodded.

Finding himself alone, Landon rested the side of his head against the back of his seat and stared at Rafael.

For the longest time all he heard were the sounds of Dorian and Emma. A medic must have come on board because Emma was removed, transported to an emergency vehicle.

And he continued to wait.

"Landon…"

He looked up over the seat and saw his mother.

"Seylah?" he asked, surprised.

She looked from her son to his friend lying on the seat.

"I will sit with you," she said. She settled on the seat in front of Rafael so she had a good view of her son.

"How are you here?" he asked.

"That's a long story," she said. "Better suited for another time."

He nodded. He wasn't really up for storytelling time right now anyway.

So he waited with his mother for his brother to wake up.

He lost track of time. He didn't notice anything happening outside or around him. He didn't even notice when another woman joined his mother, or that woman's teenage son.

He tried to convince himself. Rafael had to know if he perished in the fight and Landon survived, that meant he would have to live without him. Rafael would never leave him, not if he could help it. It didn't matter what consequences awaited him at the bottom of the tiny vial. He wouldn't chance leaving him alone.

 _Right_?

Right.

Landon saw it, the second something changed.

"Raf?" he stood up and approached, looking down for another change.

"Landon?" Seylah asked, worried about her boy. They were sitting with him while he came to terms with the loss of his best friend, weren't they?

He saw it again. His chest moved.

"Raf," he reached down and grasped at his arm. "Wake up."

"Landon," Seylah said gently. "He's gone."

He shook his head. "No he's not. He took it. He's not dead."

"Took what?" Seylah asked.

Landon shook his head because even he didn't know what was in the vial.

"Raf, wake up," he insisted again.

Rafael turned his head, wincing as the bone cracked back into place.

"Landon?" he mumbled.

"Jesus," Landon nearly fell over at the relief rushing through him. "Okay. _Okay!_ You're alive. Take this." He shoved the vial in Raf's face. "You need to take this."

Rafael shook his head. "I'm not sure I want to. I just wanted to make sure I got to see you again."

"You're really going to leave me _now_?" Landon asked.

Rafael shook his head. "Nah, man. Just…give me a minute. We're good. Doctor Saltzman said I had a day to decide."

"Okay," Landon nodded.

Rafael reached out a hand and Landon grasped it, pulling him to sit up.

"How is this possible?" Seylah asked, looking back and forth between them.

"I've stopped asking that question," Ethan said. "This world is full of surprises."

"Hey, Ethan," Rafael nodded at him.

"Who are you?" Landon asked.

"Ethan," Ethan said. "Wolf, and apparently your cousin."

Landon raised an eyebrow.

"Glad to see you're alive," Mac said to her nephew. "You too," she said to the other boy though she had never met him.

"Thanks," Rafael said tiredly.

"Landon," Seylah said. "This is my sister, and the reason you found your way to me last year. She left behind the photo for you to find."

"Uh…hi?" Landon said awkwardly. "Nice to meet you?" How did he suddenly have more family than he knew what to do with?

"I guess this means he did it," Rafael said, looking at Landon. "Clarke destroyed Malivore."

" _Clarke_ did it?" Landon asked.

"Him and the twins, yeah," Rafael nodded. "Ethan and MG helped."

"What about Hope?" Landon asked.

"I had to distract her," Rafael said. "Otherwise, she never would've let Clarke die in her place."

"Clarke isn't dead though," Landon said. That had been made _abundantly_ clear by Hope jumping into his arms and holding his hand.

Rafael shook his head at the irony. "I guess nature found a loophole for him."

"So she did," Landon said.

* * *

Hope looked around.

Everything was nearly cleared up, save for the giant troll statues.

Exhaustion had taken its toll, but it was done.

Spending the afternoon doing everything she could to help, she met so many of the ones who had come to join her. Vincent had said she didn't need to make any speeches or announcements, but she could do _that_ for them.

She knew whenever she returned to New Orleans from now on, it would mean something different for her. It wasn't just home. She would never refer to them as a kingdom like her father might, but these people were _her_ people. She could never express to them how much this had meant to her.

In the world's biggest plot twist, Triad had come through too. The very government agency that had hunted them and tried to kill them was _helping_. She wasn't sure what kind of magic Clarke had wielded to make that feat possible, but he did it.

Clarke had managed to send all of the monsters back too.

Doctor Saltzman had also requested the return of another human who had disappeared over a month ago, Megan Brenner. Her sister was apparently frantic to find her even if she couldn't remember her.

Once the monsters were gone, Aunt Freya had cast the spell to return the memories. It was either that or everyone from New Orleans who had come to help wouldn't remember anything about the battle. Of course, it meant everyone passed out for a few minutes, but it had to be done.

Nearly everyone had left the area to return home or go to the hospital, save for the Salvatore students, her family, and a few others.

Now that she could breathe a little, she closed the door on the last car, bidding farewell to a group of witches she had just met.

She turned around and walked back to the center of activity.

She could see Josie and Lizzie together and she had the sudden urge to join them.

"Hope!" Josie called out, grinning at seeing her.

Hope walked faster; the overwhelming happiness of knowing it was truly over was swelling up.

"Josie!" she said with a happy grin before she hugged her friend.

"Isn't that sweet?" Lizzie said with a wide smile of her own.

"Get in here," Hope said, motioning with one hand.

"If you insist," Lizzie couldn't even fake disdain at this point. She wrapped her arms around Hope _and_ Josie, resting her head on top of her sister's.

"We did it, didn't we," Lizzie said.

"You did it," Hope said. "I barely helped."

"No," Josie said, head smooshed against Hope's shoulder. " _You_ guys did it!"

"I was right the first time," Lizzie argued. "We _all_ did it. And we rocked!"

"Totally," Hope said.

MG came walking over, brandishing the golden arrow. "I found it! I'll get this to Landon later." He saw the girls then and perked up.

"Can I get in the hug pile?" MG asked.

"Why not?" Josie said.

"The more the merrier," Hope grinned.

MG reached around and did what he could to hug them all at once, grinning himself.

"I missed you guys," Josie said, gripping hold of Hope tighter. All of her anger was gone now. All it took was a hug and that smile on Hope's face at being glad to see her.

"We missed you too," Hope and Lizzie said at the same time, giggling softly.

"I love you guys," Josie said.

"We love you too," they said together, laughing harder now.

"Does that include me?" MG said.

"Oh, MG," Josie said, shaking her head.

"Can we go home now?" Lizzie said. "Or at least to a nice hotel room with the world's hottest shower?"

"Yeah," Hope laughed. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

* * *

Ethan looked around the bus.

After doing what they could to clean it up—and with help from some witches—it was looking better and they were preparing to leave in a little while.

Today had been eye opening to this whole new world he found himself a part of.

And he couldn't wait to learn more.

He would let his mom know as soon as they got home, but he was going to switch schools. Maya wouldn't be happy, but he had to do it.

There was so much he still had to learn about his abilities but also about himself and where he came from.

Hope had promised to tell him about the Crescents. He knew they had been there today, fighting alongside them. He saw many of them change into wolves to fight instead of hand-to-hand. He had to fight back his urge to join them. He knew now wasn't the time, that it was too dangerous.

Still, he wished he could've done more than hose down his cousin.

And yet, he _had_. He had been part of some kind of magical blood ritual that had destroyed a threat to the world.

Dennis' death really _hadn't_ been in vain.

One of the witches had done a spell earlier and all of his memories had come flooding back when he woke after passing out. He remembered being on that roof with Dennis and Jed. He recalled the birds attacking and him accidentally knocking into Dennis causing him to fall. He had tried _everything_ he could to prevent that death. Dennis' death _had_ been an accident. He still felt horrible that he caused someone's death, but at least now he knew it had been an accident in every sense of the word.

"You should've seen it, Alyssa," Kaleb said. "There were these trolls and they just started banging on the barrier."

"You killed trolls?" Alyssa asked.

"Well, no," Kaleb said.

"Hope did," Jed interjected.

"But it was still cool to see," Kaleb said, interrupting Jed with a look.

"I'm just sayin," Jed held up his hands.

"What did _you_ kill then?" Kaleb asked.

"I killed things," Jed said defensively.

"Not during the first half, you didn't," Kaleb said, raising his nose in the air.

"I was invisible and trying to jump _into_ Malivore," Jed said. "I had a job to do."

"Well, my job was to watch Hope's back and I did, by keeping the monsters at bay," Kaleb argued.

"No," Jed said. "The _barrier_ spell kept the monsters at bay. You just tried to make them back off."

"So I protected the barrier that protected _Hope_ ," Kaleb said. "Same thing."

"I say that it's not," Jed argued.

"Fool, you better watch yourself," Kaleb leaned toward Jed.

"Or what?" Jed met his threat and leaned toward him.

They glared at each other before they both laughed.

"It _was_ a pretty epic battle though," Jed said.

"The best," Kaleb agreed.

Ethan watched the entire exchange, tilting his head. This wasn't the first argument he had witnessed between the two of them. Each argument was over the same girl but, curiously enough, they always spent more time focusing on each other during the arguments than on Alyssa. In fact, Alyssa looked pretty bored. But then, that was her general facial expression.

"Seylah!"

Ethan looked to the front and saw a tall and lanky guy, probably somewhere in his early twenties, had entered the bus. The guy's face lit up the instant he saw Ethan's aunt.

"Chad?" Seylah actually stood up in surprise.

"It's me!" Chad announed, grinning and heading straight for her.

If there was one thing he knew about his aunt, she wasn't very hands on. Hugs, pats, comforting, nope! She gave off an air of "don't touch". Whoever this guy was, he didn't seem to care about her unspoken rule, and she didn't seem to mind as she let him hug her.

"It was so terrible without you in there," Chad said, pulling away but speaking in his usual endless drivel. "But I made a friend and she helped me with my mission. Which was your mission. But you left. So Lizzie gave it to me. She's gone now. My friend, not Lizzie. Evelyn just wanted to go home and those super dapper government agents said they'd get her there. So she's gone. But I'm here!"

"I'm glad you made a friend, Chad," Seylah said. "Let me introduce you to my family."

"Sweet!"

* * *

"I guess that's it then," Lizzie said, looking around.

"Yep," Hope said. "My family wants to talk to me, and I think they'll be leaving too." Before that, though, she needed to find Ryan. She hadn't had a moment alone with him in a couple of hours. Now that things had died down, she had a few things she needed to say to him.

"So, Malivore's gone, but Clarke's alive and gets to rule his hell dimension," Lizzie said. "Rafael died but miraculously gets to live and become a hybrid. Looks like everyone gets a loophole except for me."

Lizzie sighed. "I wish _I_ could shove all my problems into a black pit and let them disappear."

Hope grabbed her arm. "Oh my God, Lizzie."

"What?"

"I think… I have an idea…" Hope couldn't believe it. Was the solution really _that_ simple? "I need to talk to Ryan first though…"

"Will I like this idea?"

"You'll positively _live_ for it," Hope said.

"Then go find your man," Lizzie said.

Hope didn't need to be told twice.

The last time she saw him, he had been with some of the Triad agents.

"Ryan!" she said, seeing him from afar.

He said something to the person he was talking to, then immediately came over to meet her.

"Finally my turn?" he asked with a teasing smile. He knew she had a lot to take care of

"Be grateful I've been busy," she said, eyeing him with not a _little_ attitude. "What the _hell_ were you thinking? You could've _died_. You thought you were _going_ to die. And you didn't say anything to me about it."

"You wouldn't have let me do it," he said simply.

"Darn right, I wouldn't have," she said. "Don't ever do that to me again. You're not supposed to be the hero. _I_ am."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" he said with disgust. "I'm not a hero. I only care about you. And you _told_ me you were willing to die today. Well, so was I. For you. Because I don't want to live without you."

"Well, maybe I don't want to live without you either," she said. "Ever think about that!?"

He smirked.

"What?" she said. "What could you possibly be smiling about right now?"

"You love me," he said.

"Really?" she said. "You're just going to say it like that?"

"Not like you were in any rush to say it," he shrugged.

"So you're just going to take the words out of my mouth?" she asked.

"You could always take them back," he suggested.

"Ryan," she said with a glare.

"Yes?" he smiled impishly.

"You're _so_ lucky I love you," she said.

"I know," he said, reaching for her.

She couldn't stand back a second longer. She put her arms up around his neck and tugged him down, standing on tiptoe to meet his descending mouth.

He placed his hands at her hips, holding her gently, while she pulled her arms down enough for her fingers to splay against the back of his neck, keeping him firmly in place while she kissed him.

She finally pulled back and met his eyes.

"I love you," she whispered.

He smiled at her, glad she had finally _officially_ said it. He couldn't believe how well everything was falling into place. He had so much to tell her. Not the least of which is what he had _just_ found out.

"I have to go take care of a few more things with Triad," he said, not wanting to let her go just yet, but knowing he had to. "Say goodbye to your family."

"What's going on with Triad?" she asked. "You're not going to work for them again are you?"

"No…" he said. "This goes the way I want, I think they're going to be working for me."

" _What_?"

"I'll tell you about it later," he said.

"Good, because I need to ask you something else," she said. "The merge."

"What about it?"

"Malivore, he could open as many portals as he wanted, as big as he wanted, right?" she asked. "So you can do that too, right?"

"In theory," he nodded. He would need to practice.

"And, in theory, you could just leave a portal open forever if you wanted to," she said. "Right?"

He nodded. "In theory."

"If we can figure out where the dimensional portal is between earth and that other world, the one the Gemini left behind, could you open a portal big enough to cover _that_ portal?" she asked. "So any creature that makes its way through would end up in the pit instead of on earth?"

Blinking, he understood exactly what she was saying. "In theory…"

"So, there's a chance the world won't need the Gemini seal anymore? We could destroy it and the twins won't have to merge?" she asked.

"The twin bond is still tied to the seal," he said. "You'd have to dissolve that link."

"With a coven of witches strong enough, like the New Orleans witches maybe?" she asked hopefully.

"In theory, yes," he said. "Though there's no telling what will happen if you do it. The twins already have symptoms from the black magic tied into the bond."

"But what if we could figure it all out?" she asked. "Would you do it?"

For Josie? No. He didn't care.

But for Lizzie? The only reason he was alive, the only reason he had finally been able to meet his mother? The pain-in-his-ass blonde that had damn well better stay away from his room that night?

Yes. He would do it.

"Yes."

She lit up and jumped up to kiss him again. "You're the best!"

"Can I go have this meeting now?" he asked. "I want to get it over with so we can leave."

"One more thing…" she said, her joy fading. Her face showed the seriousness of her next words. "I have to talk to him."

"Who?"

"Landon," she said.

His gaze grew cautious. His silence his only reply.

"I'm with _you_ ," she said, raising her hand and caressing the backs of her middle and forefinger down the side of his face like always. "I love you. I only want to be with _you_. He needs to know that."

"You don't need my permission to do anything," he finally said. He knew she loved him. He knew she was meant for him. But she had loved _him_ —his brother—first. That was the part that didn't sit well with him. He would have to learn to live with it.

"I know I don't," she said. "I'm not asking for it. I know it matters to you though, so I'm letting you know what I'm going to do before I do it, and reassuring you that everything will be okay."

She was showing him that she respected him and his feelings. He couldn't ask for more than that.

"Have your meeting," he said hoarsely. "And I'll have mine."

"Aunt Freya arranged for us to have the car a little longer, so I'll meet you there?" she said.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

As luck would have it, Landon was standing outside of the bus with Rafael, making it easier for Hope to approach him without everyone staring at them.

"Landon," she called, coming to a stop.

He looked up, "Hope."

"Can I talk to you?" she asked.

He awkwardly stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I'm hanging with Raf right now, letting him get some fresh air."

"Raf, I really need to talk to Landon," she said. "Can you go inside please?" She wanted to get this over with, there would be no excuses.

Rafael immediately nodded, "Okay." He turned and walked away without another word to Landon.

"Hey!" Landon called out, surprised that Raf didn't even look at him before he left. He knew Landon wasn't looking forward to talking to Hope.

Hope winced. "He decided to take the other vial then." Darn it, she hadn't meant to tell him what to do. She would need to get better at that.

"Yeah," he said, shaking his head. "He'll live."

"Good," she nodded. She didn't wish for Rafael to go through what would be needed if he wanted to destroy the sire bond between them, but she was glad he was alive. He didn't know yet that _she_ was the one who controlled the bond. Doctor Saltzman had mentioned to her that he hadn't given her away. She needed to talk to Raf too, but there was time for that.

"So…" she said. "We need to talk."

"Um…" he put his arms behind his back, clasping his hands and stretching. "I went into the woods and never really came back out. But if I had, we were supposed to talk things over then…"

"Well, we're talking them over now," she said.

"But are we?" he asked. "I mean, obviously things have changed. Whereas before you insisted that dream meant nothing, I just woke up to the complete opposite."

Hope nodded. "You did."

"I mean, I asked him to save you," he said. "I wasn't giving him permission for anything else."

"Permission wasn't yours to give," she said. "You _broke up_ with me."

"I said I thought we should take a _break_ ," he corrected her. "I never broke up with you."

She shook her head, "Landon. That's the same thing."

He looked down. "You love me. You told me that. You promised me that."

"I do love you," she said. "I never lied about that. Some part of me will probably always love you, but only as a friend. I'm not _in_ love with you."

"You're seriously telling me you're in _love_ with _him_?" he said, flabbergasted and maybe even a little outraged.

"Yes," she said.

"He's…he's… you know what he tried to do to me," the words burst out in disbelief. "What he tried to do to _you_. He tried to help our father. He's my _brother_ for crying out loud. If you had to be with someone else, did it really have to be _him_?"

"Landon, I don't need to explain anything to you," she said. "I'm not here to argue with you either. I'm here to give us the official ending we never got."

He scoffed to cover the pain he was feeling.

"I know its cliché, but I really _do_ hope we can still be friends," she said.

"I _was_ right though," he said, shaking his head. "I said if you got him his body back, he'd make us regret it. And he did, at least to _me_."

Hope sighed, "Goodbye, Landon. I'll see you at school."

"Right," he kicked at an imaginary rock as she left.

He turned away. He couldn't watch her walk away from him.

He knew they had their issues, he knew that he had struggled to trust her. But he always thought they would get past it all eventually.

He was wrong.

* * *

Trying to keep his mind off of Hope's current destination, Clarke went to meet with Veronica.

Contacting Triad to clear the humans from the area had turned out to be a stroke of genius on his part, if he did say so himself.

Not only had he made Hope happy by protecting civilians, he provided a means to clean up the aftermath of everything. Triad had sewn up and medicated the wounded, and they would arrange for bodies to be returned to families. They had even arranged for clean up of the dead monsters from the pit.

The only thing Veronica had wanted in exchange for all of that extra was a chance to meet with him. To sit with him. To make a deal.

He wasn't a fool. He knew exactly what was going on.

Yesterday he only asked for the area to be clear—and for a ten thousand gallon water tank so he could thoroughly soak his brother whenever he tried to fly away.

But yesterday he didn't have control of the Malivore pit.

He knew she must have been observing somehow. He didn't get that phone call until _after_ he learned to open the pit.

For hundreds of years, that was how Triad functioned. They hunted down the monsters and tossed them into the pit. Without a pit, their entire operation had run defunct.

He knew exactly what Veronica wanted.

And he knew what he wanted too.

"Ryan," Veronica said, coming to join him at the makeshift table her people had set up. "Good to see you again."

It had always bothered him when she called him that. He always felt like she wasn't respecting his rank. Of course, he had been _much_ higher than her in ranking before he went into the pit the first time.

"Skip the pleasantries," he said. "What do you want?"

"Surely you can appreciate everything we've done here today," she said.

Was she really expecting him to thank her? "It's your job, isn't it?" he asked. "Clean up crew."

"Yes," she nodded. "Thank you for the head's up. Knowing of impending attacks is helpful in keeping these things contained, as you well know."

He tilted his head. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, so why don't I spell it out for you. You don't have a pit anymore. And you want one." Everyone wanted a portal today, it seemed.

Veronica hesitantly nodded, as if she was reluctant to give anything away.

"What's your offer?" he asked.

"Honestly," she begrudgingly spoke. "I've been instructed to offer anything you want."

"Really," he had to laugh. "That's _some_ offer."

"What do you want, Ryan?" she asked.

"I want Triad," he replied.

She breathed out, the only hint of emotion she gave. "And by that you mean…"

"I want to be in charge," he said. "Run things. I want all of _you_ ," he enunciated to make sure she knew he was including her specifically, "to work for _me_. Instead of being a government organization, it'll be _mine_. And the government can contract us to help with those things that go bump in the night."

"Is that all?" she said, looking a little strained.

"If _anyone_ tosses someone in the pit that doesn't belong, I _will_ know," he said. "And there will be consequences. Monsters aren't whoever you or the government don't like. In fact, they aren't all _monsters_ at all."

"What do you mean…" she asked.

"Not all creatures are evil," he said. "Round up the ones who are. Not the ones who aren't." In fact, he intended to go through the creatures already in the pit to determine who was supposed to be there and who wasn't.

"I see," she said.

"Are those terms acceptable?" he asked.

"There was only one request they made that they won't be swayed on," she said.

"And that is?"

"Whatever spell is being used to return the memories of those tossed in the pit," she said. "They don't want that used ever again."

He leaned back, suddenly glad he had the conversation he had with a certain former operative earlier.

Seylah hadn't been pleased to wake up and find the entire field crawling with Triad agents. When she found out he was responsible for it, she hunted him down. She was worried they would take her in. She went as far as demanding he open a portal for her to jump into just so they would forget about her again, and then let her back out. She mentioned she would just try to hunt down another serum for her sister.

Which, of course, led to him making an interesting new discovery. He always knew Triad used scientists to research the material in the pit. He knew they had been working to alter it so it would contain all supernaturals. He didn't know they figured out a way to return the memories though.

"I happen to know you had a team of scientists who once discovered a serum that could be used to return the memories," he said. "I'll make sure the spell is never used again _if_ a supply of the serum is readily available. Just in case, you understand."

"Your terms are…acceptable," she finally agreed.

"Excellent," he reached out to shake her hand. "I'll need the weekend. I'll contact you on Monday to get started."

She shook his hand but looked decidedly pale the entire time.

"You're absolutely correct, by the way," he said while standing. "It _was_ good to see you again."

* * *

"Whew, what a day!" Jade said, settling into the car.

Josie flopped back on the seat next to her, grinning, "That it was! I'm so glad it's over!"

"And I'm _really_ glad Hope's aunt arranged a car for her and she's letting us tag along," Jade said.

Josie had to smile at that. Hope had insisted both Josie and Lizzie travel with her since the bus was such a mess. MG coming along was a given, but Josie has specifically asked about Jade. Hope had agreed with a knowing look.

"It _is_ just the car ride though," Josie said. "Dad plans to stop at the same hotel we're going to. Everyone is exhausted."

"How is he footin' the bill for that along with the one back home?" Jade asked, surprised. "It can't be cheap doing that."

"Insurance is covering a lot back home," Josie explained. "Plus, I think the community raised some funds too. Besides, Dad only had to get a two room suite for him and the boys, and one room for the girls. The Sheriff is getting a room for her family."

"So that means…"

"Yeah, we're sharing a room with Lizzie and Alyssa," Josie said, wincing.

Jade turned to her quickly, grasping her wrist. " _Please_ don't make me sleep next to Alyssa Chang."

"I won't," Josie reassured her. "Lizzie will just have to deal with _that_. You can sleep with me."

"Cool," Jade said.

Josie smiled at her. "You don't hog the covers do you?"

"Guess you'll just have to find out," Jade said.

"Looking forward to it," Josie said.

Jade glanced at her. "I _do_ like you a lot, but I'm not sure I'm the right person for you."

"Don't I have any say in that?" Josie asked. "Isn't that the point of dating? Getting to know each other?"

"Jos…"

"We can just give it a try?" Josie suggested. "If it turns out we're completely incompatible, we'll call it quits and just be friends again."

"You really think it's that easy?" Jade asked.

"I do," Josie said, shifting closer. "But I know the best way to determine compatibility right off the bat." Her eyes drifted down to Jade's lips.

"You do, do you?" Jade said, shaking her head at Josie's transparency. "Okay, let's do this then. Instant compatibility meter."

She leaned in close to Josie too, closing her eyes as she met her lips with her own. _Not bad_.

Josie _really_ hoped Jade was enjoying this as much as she was, because she was pretty certain the compatibility meter was off the charts.

"Ewww," Lizzie said when she pulled the door open to climb into the car. "Save that for some time that's _away_ from me."

Josie and Jade pulled apart quickly but didn't turn to Lizzie. They only smiled softly at each other.

Jade conceded defeat.

She _really_ liked Josie.

* * *

"Your father would've been proud," Marcel said into Hope's ear, hugging her tightly.

"And so would your mother," Rebekah said, waiting impatiently for her chance to hug her too. "You got the best of both worlds from them."

"Thank you," Hope pulled away from Marcel and hugged Rebekah. "I'm so glad you were here for this with me."

"We wouldn't have missed it for the world," Kol said, waiting for his turn. "Don't be afraid to call should any more trouble arise."

"I won't," she laughed as she reached for her uncle.

"And come to visit _us_ next summer," Davina said. "Beaches, palm trees, and the ocean—San Francisco is quite the vacation destination."

" _After_ our trip to Milan," Rebekah was sure to correct her sister-in-law.

Shaking her head, Hope hugged Davina next, "We'll plan it all out, I swear."

"As in we, I can only assume you plan to bring a guest along?" Davina asked with a knowing look.

"Maybe…" Hope blushed.

"I, for one, just hope to see you all again for Christmas," Freya said.

"I'll be there," Hope promised, hugging Aunt Freya last. "I can't wait to spend winter break in New Orleans. I made a lot of friends today."

"You did more than that," Marcel said. "You earned their respect. Even with the wolves, while they all had that vision, they had never met _you_. Most of them did today, just like the vampires and the witches. They saw your power, and then they saw your heart. They fear you, but they also respect you. I have no doubt many would answer the call if you were to need them again."

"Let's hope that never happens," Hope said quickly.

"We should be going, unfortunately," Kol said. "The day wears on and we've a flight to catch."

Hope nodded. Only Freya needed to return to New Orleans, the rest would be heading to San Francisco or New York City. They had booked late flights when the fighting was over and needed to catch their ride to the closest airport.

"I love you all," Hope looked around.

"As do we love you," Rebekah said, running her hand gently through her niece's hair. "Always and forever."

"Always and forever," they all responded.

* * *

"I'll check-in," Clarke murmured to Hope.

Nodding, she turned back to Lizzie while he moved to the front desk.

"Dad already checked us in when he got here earlier," Lizzie said.

Doctor Saltzman had left before Clarke returned to the car, so everyone else had long since arrived and had presumably begun to settle in for the night.

"I guess you better go then," Hope said. "Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, right," Lizzie said with a look of disgust. "Did you see Jade and Josie all over each other? They are _totally_ going to share one queen bed, which means I'll have to share the other one with," she gagged a little, " _Alyssa_."

Hope stepped in front of Lizzie and grabbed her arms tightly.

"Lizzie. I love you like a sister. But I swear by all that is holy and sacred in this world, if you go anywhere _near_ my room tonight, I _will_ kill you."

"Chill," Lizzie said, pulling away. "I already got the memo."

"Good!" Hope said.

"Besides, I don't know the room number," she said.

"When has _that_ stopped you before?" Hope grumbled.

"True," Lizzie nodded.

Ahead, Clarke motioned for Hope that it was time to go.

"That's _my_ cue," Hope said.

"By the way," Lizzie called out. "I've changed my mind!"

"About what?" Hope called out, turning around, walking backwards to Ryan.

"I'm Team Clarke," Lizzie said.

"About time," Hope rolled her eyes and turned to grab his hand.

"I asked for a room _far_ away from all of them," Clarke said.

"I made sure we _won't_ be disturbed," she said.

"Better put a spell up just in case," Clarke said.

" _Definitely_."

* * *

"I need to shower," she said after he let her into the room.

Everything was so familiar. It seemed like they had done this a hundred times before. He checked them into a hotel room, and she went to shower.

Except this time, they both knew what was to follow was very different than usual.

"Go ahead," he said. "I need one too."

War was dirty.

As she went to the bathroom, he went through his travel bag.

Finding the foil packets he packed in case he found himself alive that evening, he stared down at them in the palm of his hand.

Kol had given him condoms to prevent some kind of miracle baby.

At the time, Clarke had thought he was insane. But now, he _really_ wasn't sure of anything anymore.

His mother had said the darkness he was shrouded in had consequences.

What if one of those consequences _was_ his inability to father a child?

If his mother was _earth_ , the creator of life itself, why then wouldn't _he_ be able to create life?

There were too many questions with too few answers.

Tonight wasn't the night to try to answer them though.

Tonight was about them, consummating their love _finally_.

As much as he would love to be skin to skin with her, he wouldn't do it without telling her there was a chance. But, to do that, he would have to go into the entire story.

He wanted to tell her _everything_.

But not tonight.

So, tonight he would protect her, just as her uncle demanded. Just as he had sworn to himself he always would.

He placed the foil packets down on the night stand next to the bed.

He requested a room with one bed this time. King size. Plenty of room.

She came into the room and he had to smile.

"You found it," he said, seeing his shirt on her. He noticed she wasn't wearing any shorts. He wondered if she was wearing anything at all under it.

"Before we left," she smirked. "You were right, Aunt Freya did wash it."

"I'll be right back."

He showered in about five minutes flat. He was too impatient to drag it out anymore than that.

He returned to the room wearing only a pair of loose black pants and went around to his usual side of the bed, climbing in next to her.

"Hey," he said softly, looking over at her.

"Hey," she said, grinning.

"May I?" he asked, reaching toward her.

"Yes, please," she said, reaching for him too.

His mouth found hers and he pressed her down against the bed, moving his legs over hers. She parted them and he easily settled between her thighs.

He began to slowly undo the buttons on the shirt. He kissed his way down to her neck, then kept going but paused after each button was released to kiss and lick at her skin.

Gasping, she grasped at his head, needing to touch him as he kept going. When the shirt spilled open at the top, his lips surrounded her left nipple and he sucked gently. She arched up, crying out when he increased the pressure. He kissed his way over to the other side, and did it again, grinning to himself when she cried out again. _She_ really _liked that._

Finally, when she was shifting restlessly, he continued his descent, knowing she loved when he paid attention to her stomach. It was her first kink he ever learned from that initial sex dream. All he had to do was kiss slowly back and forth across her stomach, pausing to lick and bite at the skin, and she was crying out again, making those sounds he loved.

She reached down and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back up. He didn't need to wonder at her intent for long, as she immediately pushed to roll them over. She straddled him and ran her hands up his chest.

He lay back as she explored. He expected this. She needed to take a bit of control. She needed to feel comfortable, and that came from control.

She leaned down and kissed at his stomach too. He flexed involuntarily, groaning. Then she kissed her way up, her fingers found _his_ nipples, and then her mouth did too. He shifted, bucking up against her as she gave him back exactly what he had given to her. Her hips undulated against him as she rubbed herself against him through their clothes.

When she reached down for his waistband, he couldn't take it anymore. He pulled _her_ up this time and rolled them over again.

He reached down for her thigh and slid his hand up the bare skin, under the shirt. She _was_ wearing panties he found. He continued moving up to find the top edge and met her eyes as he tugged them down. She lifted up, making it easier for him as he shifted off of her and slid them down. She bent her knees toward her, and he looped them off, tossing them far away.

Putting her legs back down, the shirt had slid up enough that she was bared below completely to his gaze.

She flushed slightly, so he moved to kiss her again, shifting on top of her once more. He settled between her thighs again, this time rubbing his still clothed hardness against her. 

"You're incredible," he whispered. "Perfect." He wanted her to focus on the pleasure and nothing else, no reason to feel any embarrassment or shyness for what they were doing to make her blush.

She moaned, arching up against his movement. Her eyes were dazed and pleasure filled. He helped her remove the shirt completely.

Then he pulled back, reached down, and pushed at his own pants. He had to move to his knees between her thighs to get them completely off, but he did it as smoothly as he could.

During that, she eyed his manhood with curiosity and a little fear, but mostly desire which was what he was aiming for.

Lying back down on top of her, he kissed her again while reaching down to slide his fingers against her and into her.

She gasped into his mouth, spreading her legs even further.

Heat greeted his fingers as he sought out the nub inside. The heat told him she was ready, but he wanted to make absolutely sure so he pressed his thumb against it. He nearly lost control himself when she gasped and jerked her hips up. She was hot, wet, and completely ready for him. He was so hard.

He reached for the night stand and grabbed one of the foil packets, tearing it open as quickly as possible and wasting no time in rolling it on.

He shifted and lined himself up against her, but looked up once more to ask permission before he took her.

She nodded; her face a mess of desire that showed him exactly how much she needed him _now_.

Keeping eye contact, he surged forward slowly, pushing himself inside of her, pressing forward until he couldn't go anymore.

Hope stared up at him, at a loss for the moment. He was actually _inside_ of her. It was so strange, so big, but it didn't hurt. She shifted, feeling the restlessness return. She needed more. She wanted _more_.

When she started shifting beneath him, he knew she was ready for what came next. Taking a breath, he pulled back slightly and thrust forward again.

Her eyes widened and she moaned. And then he did it again, and again until she was arching desperately to meet every thrust, their eyes never leaving each others. 

As the pleasure mounted, she got even more vocal. Moaning and crying out each time he slid home inside of her. She clutched at him and murmured, "I need…"

"Yes?" he asked softly.

"I need…" She didn't even know. All she knew was, she was quickly loosing control. "Roll over…"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, clutching at his shoulders.

He gripped her hips tightly and pushed firmly inside of her as he rolled onto his back, not at all surprised she would seek out control again when she was so close to losing hers.

He managed to stay inside of her while he moved, only because he pulled her against him so firmly.

She rose above him, straddling him, and quickly readjusted. She shifted her hips, experimenting for a moment, finding an angle she liked, and then she was off.

He held his hands at her hips, guiding her as she moved up and down above him, pressing his own hips up even as each down movement saw their pelvises connect. All the while, she kept moaning. 

"Ryan…"

"Uh huh," he groaned out, biting his lip as he held himself back. Watching her above him was turning him on too much, _his_ control was in jeopardy.

"It feels so good…" she murmured, leaning down and planting her hands down on either side of him.

"I know…" he breathed out.

He felt the change in her movements, felt them become more frantic, and knew she was almost there.

For all her bravado though, as the pleasure swelled and she was about to completely lose control, she looked down at him, her eyes big, almost frightened and unsure, she said, "Ryan?" in a small voice.

"That's it," he encouraged her. "You're almost there. Just let go. I've got you."

When she finally let go, her orgasm was amazing to behold.

It was the first time she broke eye contact by tossing her head back and letting out a wild, loud moan that was nearly a scream.

She tightened around him and with two more upward thrusts, he lost control too. The pleasure was nearly his undoing. He had _never_ felt the way he did with her. It was indescribable. It was perfect. It was earth shattering.

She fell forward on top of him, her face finding his neck, still connected to him.

Their hips moved gently together, trying to soak up any last bit of pleasure before finally stilling.

He reached over, trying to find his breath, to grab a tissue off the night stand. He rolled her over and removed the protection before it became ineffective and disposed of it.

He turned back to her, and pulled her against him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly.

"What?"

"How good it would be?" she said.

"You didn't ask," he smirked, then kissed the top of her head.

"I love you," she murmured against his chest.

"I love _you_ ," he murmured back.

She fell asleep against him, and then he followed her into sleep as well.

He didn't think he would ever pass a night without sleeping again.

* * *

"It's time."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Klaus," Hayley said. "She's alive, she's happy, she's in love. She's at peace."

"But what if it doesn't last?" Klaus asked.

"All relationships have their ups and downs," Hayley said. "Nothing is ever going to be perfect. Our little girl is going to be _okay_ though. It's time to let her live her life, time for _you_ to find peace."

Klaus hesitated.

Hayley rose and clasped his shoulder, "You know it's time."

He nodded and stood too.

"Come on," she said. "Elijah is waiting."

Klaus looked up then, seeing the brother that meant the world to him.

"Niklaus," Elijah said with a gentle smile.

Klaus walked forward and hugged him fiercely.

"Hello, Brother."


	30. Epilogue: Always and Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I own nothing but my own words. ___

So this was a dream.

He looked around and had to shake his head.

That whole repressed wish thing was on point at the moment.

Settling into a park bench, he sat back and took in a view he had never in his life cared for.

Children squealing, laughing, and running around on a playground.

Shaking his head again, he said, "Where are you?"

And then, like she had been there all along, his mother was beside him, sitting back on the park bench, taking in the view as well.

"Is this you again, or me?" he asked.

She made no effort to reply, just continued to look out, smiling slightly.

He resigned himself to waiting for her words. He figured out from last time that she answered in her own way, hardly ever giving a direct answer. Perhaps he wasn't asking the right questions.

"Is it what she wants?" she asked.

He looked down, grimacing. 

"No. Not yet?" he sighed. "I don't know." Except, he _did_ know. She said she didn't want kids. She didn't hesitate, she didn't stutter, she said it confidently like she had come to that decision long ago.

That didn't mean he couldn't change her mind though. He just had to find out her reasons why.

"Are you prepared if she doesn't?" she asked.

He didn't want to answer that, and given her track record on not answering he figured it was his turn to answer a question with a question.

"If she does, is it possible?" That's what he really wanted to know. He didn't ask her here to point out the potential problems. He just wanted to know if it were possible.

"Part of your mother's legacy lies within you as well," she replied.

He looked at her, "Why can't you give a straight answer?"

"I'm not your oracle, Ryan," she said. "I'm your mother. I can offer guidance but I cannot change what is meant to be with my words. Some things need to be learned, not told. If the universe revealed all its secrets, wherein lies the mystery?"

" _Can_ I create life?" he asked, frustrated. "That's all I need to know. Can you give me that?"

"If you take that route, you have a long road ahead," she said.

"To convince her?" he asked. "I know."

He waited for her to say more, but, of course, she didn't.

"I think I can," he finally said. "I think that in creating me as he did, father blocked me from doing the _one thing_ he created me to do. You say part of your legacy lies within me as well, and you are the creator of life itself. That's too much of a legacy to skip me entirely."

"If you already knew the answer, then why seek me out?" she asked.

"Peace of mind?" he said.

"Then I wish you a peaceful mind, my son," she said.

"Thank you," he said.

Maybe therein lay his actual answer.

* * *

Waking up the morning after having sex with Hope for the first time, he wasn't sure what to expect.

But he could get used to waking up like this.

Her mouth was kissing his chest softly as her fingers drew circles along his skin, down across his rib cage, creeping toward his navel.

He opened his eyes and saw that she was looking at him, waiting for him to wake, hesitant, with a question on her face. "You don't have to ask ever again. Nothing is wrong between you and me."

She nodded. "Same… I mean… you don't have to ask. I'll let you know if I don't like something."

"Deal," he said, smiling softly.

Her fingers were tracing around his navel now. He could feel himself responding to the touch. She noticed too. He wondered what she would do next. He was _not_ disappointed.

She pushed herself up, slid her right leg over him, and then sat up with her knees on either side of him, settling onto his legs. She didn't look at his face again, instead she looked down. Her curious gaze taking all of him in.

He held his breath as she reached out and wrapped her hand around him. He waited for her to say or ask something, but she seemed completely transfixed on that part of him.

She slid her hand down, feeling how hard he was becoming due to her actions. She reached out with her other hand, but this time she used a finger to trace beneath her other hand where it rested at his base.

He struggled to remain still as she explored further south.

 _Finally_ , she slid her fingertips back up, tracing the length of him until she found the tip. She slid her other hand back up too, then moved back down again. She watched, fascinated, as the foreskin stretched with her movement.

He jerked sporadically. He didn't mind her exploring his body, knowing she needed to learn and assuage her curiosity, but it was going to have to be in smaller doses. He wasn't going to last much longer if she kept this up.

She stopped tracing her fingers and grabbed hold of him firmly with her right hand. "Like this?" she asked, rising up and beginning to shift forward on her knees.

He realized she meant she was ready to go again. As she inched herself closer to him, preparing to line them up, he reached to grasp her hip with his right hand. "Hold on."

With his left, he stretched for the other condom. He opened it and placed it over his tip, leaving the space needed at the top while he rolled it down.

She watched, transfixed again, but then the confusion set in, "I thought you didn't need to…"

Finished, he reached for both hips to encourage her to move forward. "I'll explain later. For now, just…"

He finished with a groan because she stopped listening and had completed her earlier mission, using her hand to guide him up inside of her.

She breathed out, moving her hips slightly as she settled firmly. 

"Oh!" she said, as if surprised.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?" he asked, kicking himself for not making absolutely sure she was ready before he entered her.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm just amazed it all fits."

Smirking, he gripped her hips as he jerked up into her.

She grinned down at him as she began to move. This time, he didn't keep eye contact. He was too busy watching where their bodies were connected, feeling himself get impossibly harder.

He wasn't going to last. He knew it already. She had fondled him for too long and then turned him on even more by being the one to guide him inside of her.

"Time to roll over again," he said, sitting up and rolling her to her back.

She cried out when he settled between her thighs, thrusting forward and taking control. She clutched at his back.

He tried to hold himself still inside of her while he reached between them and thumbed at her again. He needed to make sure she was pleased before he was. Judging by the way she was moaning and begging, she was well on her way, "Ryan, please!"

His only reply was to use two fingers instead to twist around her nub gently, stroking at her and making her jerk up incessantly.

"Move!" she demanded breathlessly.

It was now or never; he couldn't hold himself back anymore anyway.

He removed his hand and focused on thrusting.

"Yes!" she cried out. She wrapped her legs around him, making sure he didn't go anywhere as he resumed the pace.

His eyes found hers as he moved, connecting with her in more ways than one.

"Almost there," he murmured. "Come with me… come with me, Hope." He was begging her even if she didn't know it. She needed to be satisfied. He wasn't going to leave her behind. He held on as long as he could and was rewarded when she screamed out and clenched around him. He slammed into her one final time and let himself go, groaning loudly himself.

She was so spent, she could hardly move, but he tapped one of her legs to get her to release him. Barely able to move as well, he forced himself to pull out and roll to his side of the bed to get rid of the protection once more. He couldn't wait to have a certain conversation with her so maybe he wouldn't have to do this anymore. But he would, if that's what she wanted.

He rolled back toward her, grasping her and pulling her against him.

She was still breathing hard, trying to recover. "Is it always like that?" she asked.

"Only with you," he said.

* * *

Hope couldn't stop smiling.

She walked into the hotel's breakfast area to meet up with the twins with a wide grin across her face, knowing she was giving herself away completely. She couldn't help it.

Sex with Ryan was _amazing_.

She often heard the other girls at school talking about it with varying opinions, but the only thing they all had in common was that their first time kind of sucked. Most were quick to reassure that it got better after that.

Her first time hadn't sucked.

In fact, not only had she thoroughly enjoyed it, but he had been so patient with her that all of her insecurities had fled. She felt safe to explore, to do things she had never done before. He encouraged her to do it. She had always feared intimacy like this, but he made her feel secure and at ease.

He was perfect.

He was also starving, which was why they made sure to get up before breakfast ended.

He went for the buffet laid out, and she went to the twins, seeing them alone. 

"No Jade or Alyssa?"

"Jade's still sleeping," Josie said.

"And _so_ is Alyssa," Lizzie grumbled, looking decidedly rumpled. "She kicked. And I think it was on purpose, I swear."

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Hope said. "Let me grab something so we can all talk."

"Is this about that thing you had to ask mud boy yesterday?" Lizzie asked.

"As a matter of fact, it _is_ ," Hope grinned even wider.

"Try to tone down the wattage," Lizzie said with a long suffering sigh. "As if the smile wasn't apparent enough."

"Of what?" Josie asked.

"Don't answer that," Hope said to Lizzie as she left, heading for the breakfast counter.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, picked up her banana, and peeled it.

"I feel like I missed something," Josie said.

"No worries," Lizzie said. "Your time will come."

"Oh," Josie realized what she meant. She glanced at the couple. Hope had put a bagel into the toaster and gone to grab a yogurt. Clarke was piling on the bacon at the hot food area. She noticed every time Hope passed him, she grinned wider and made a point to touch him. "So she really…"

"You didn't hear that from me," Lizzie said, biting her banana.

"What does she even see in him?" Josie asked.

Lizzie shrugged. "He does kind of grow on you, kind of like an annoying hairy mole."

"Most people just have those removed," Josie said.

"Guess she finds it endearing," Lizzie suggested.

"I still don't get it," Josie said. She probably never would, but then her opinion of Clarke was quite colored.

Hope came back just then, sitting across from Josie. "I'm glad you guys were still here. Has everyone else already come down?"

"Most, I guess?" Lizzie said. "Breakfast is almost over. I know Dad said he wanted to be on the road by ten, so we'll be leaving within the hour."

"I'll see you tomorrow night then," Hope said, spreading cream cheese on her bagel.

"Tomorrow?" Josie asked. "You're not going back today?"

"No," Hope stared down at her bagel. "Ryan's renting a car and driving us back tomorrow." He could do things like that now, rent a car, since he didn't have to hide from Triad any longer. Not when he actually _ran_ Triad—or he would, starting Monday.

"Aww," Lizzie said snidely, teasing, "Isn't that cute? Must've been _pret_ ty good."

" _Lizzie_ ," Hope hissed under her breath.

"Relax, I already figured it out," Josie said.

"What's he going to do now?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird," Josie said. "I mean, at the end of the day you're still in high school."

"We'll figure it out," Hope shrugged. It definitely hadn't stopped them so far.

Clarke sat his plate on the table before settling in next to Hope and across from Lizzie.

"Speak of the devil," Lizzie said ruefully.

"Don't mind her," Hope said.

He hadn't planned on it. He picked up his fork to dive into the eggs, but paused.

"Here," Hope said, passing over salt and pepper packets she picked up.

"Thanks," he said.

Lizzie and Josie looked at her with twin questioning looks, obviously both wondering why she had salt and pepper when she only got a yogurt and bagel, neither of which required seasoning.

"What?" she said. "He always forgets them."

Lizzie snickered.

" _Anyway_ ," Hope said. "I had an idea, and if everything works out—"

"There are a lot of ifs," Clarke interrupted.

" _Yes_ ," Hope said, "but if we can figure it out, I think there's a way to get around the merge."

"What?" Josie said, sitting up straighter. "Are you serious?"

Hope nodded and launched into her idea.

"And Clarke would be willing to do that?" Josie asked Hope.

Hope motioned toward him, wondering why she didn't just ask him herself.

"I'll do it," he said, not needing the brunette to address him.

"Can we trust _you_ to leave the portal open forever though?" Josie asked.

He shrugged. "I said I would. If you don't believe me, go ahead and merge."

"There's a lot to consider," Lizzie said, reaching out a hand to stop the impending argument between Josie and Clarke. "We need to talk to our parents."

"I know," Hope said. "There's no rush, you've still got a few years left to decide."

"Actually…" Clarke interjected. "You've already had the bond flooding you with black magic for, what, seventeen years? And twenty-two is when it's supposed to get so bad you _have_ to merge to handle it…which means, every year—every day really—it's getting worse."

"So, what you're saying is the longer we wait, the worse it'll get?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes."

Lizzie looked at Josie who looked at her too.

"Um," Hope spoke up. "I was thinking maybe you guys could come home with me for winter break? The New Orleans witches are powerful, even more powerful on New Orleans soil. They could sever the link between the bond and the seal, and then destroy the seal. If that's what you decide to do?"

"Will we need a celestial event?" Josie asked. "I assume one was needed to create it in the first place."

"I don't know," Hope said. "But there's supposed to be a meteor shower on the twenty-third. We could use that?"

"Wow," Josie sat back. "I can't believe we're actually talking about this."

"Is this because of Hope?" Lizzie asked Clarke. "Is that the reason you're doing this? Because for all we know you guys could break up two months from now and the world will be screwed."

"That's not going to happen," Hope said immediately. She was _not_ losing Ryan. He was hers forever, damn it.

"You can't know that," Lizzie said.

"I'm doing it for _you_ ," Clarke said, staring at Lizzie.

Even Hope looked at him in confusion.

"Me?" Lizzie asked, suddenly extremely bewildered. "It's not like I've given you any reason to think I even _like_ you. Why would you do anything for _me_?"

"The earth magic," he said. "You insisted we use it in the spell to put the mark of Malivore on me."

"Yes... I did," Lizzie said. "There was no way _I_ was ever going to do black magic, and I definitely wasn't going to allow Josie to do it ever again."

"It's the only reason I survived," he said. "I would've perished alongside my father if you hadn't insisted."

Hope's mouth dropped open and she looked at Lizzie, "Oh my God."

Lizzie looked just as shocked and for once was completely speechless.

"So no," Clarke looked at Hope with a smile. "While we are _definitely_ not breaking up two months from now, or even two centuries from now, my decision wasn't made because of Hope…

"I owe you," he said to Lizzie. "You saved my life. So I'm going to save yours. If you want me to."

"I'll let you know?" Lizzie said, completely flabbergasted.

"Think about it," Hope said, grabbing Ryan's hand beneath the table. "Just let us know and we'll make it happen."

"Okay," Lizzie nodded. She looked at Josie again.

"We'll think about it," Josie agreed, nodding. She was suddenly just as hopeful as she knew her twin was. They might actually have a chance to live as themselves past their twenty-second birthday.

Hope looked up at Ryan, still grasping his hand. She would always be grateful to Lizzie for saving him, always be grateful to him for offering to save the twins, but mostly she was grateful she was still alive to get to experience more of this crazy life with him.

* * *

And it just kept getting crazier.

"So, your _mother_ is _earth_ itself!?" she exclaimed.

They had returned to their room after breakfast—and Clarke made a stop at the hotel's quickie-mart for more prophylactics.

He settled her down to explain exactly what had happened yesterday when everyone thought he had died.

"Shocked me as much as you," he said.

"How is that even possible?" she asked.

"He made me out of mud?" he said. "Or, rather, _earth_ , as she said. I don't know the details of how he did it; I wasn't around for that part."

"And she spoke to you in a dream?" she asked. "So you can dream now?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Its how I can reach her whenever I want to talk to her. She could never reach me before now."

"Ryan," she said, eyes softening as she thought of how he spent his entire life wanting his father to love and accept him never to receive it only to learn he _did_ have someone to love and accept him after all. "You have a mother… that's incredible."

"I know, right?" he smiled, feeling his insides flood with warmth.

"I guess it's impossible for me to meet her," she said with a light smile.

"She's all around," he said. "Just look outside."

"You know what I mean," she said with a light laugh.

"I do," he said. "I could ask her, but she's not one to give a direct answer. For instance, she told me there were consequences because of what father had done, like her being unable to reach me. She wouldn't come right out and explain the other ones, just said I was more powerful than I knew."

"Well, we know what she meant by that, since you can control the pit now," she said.

"Yeah," he said. "But there are other things that I've been wondering…"

"Like?"

"Like whether or not I can create life," he said, meeting her eyes pointedly.

"Life? Like… _Oh_!" she said, eyes widening. "Oh."

He nodded.

"Um, that reminds me," she shifted awkwardly. "How _did_ you find out you couldn't, you know, continue his lineage?"

He shrugged. "Father just knew? Just like how he managed to create me? I'm not sure."

"Oh," she sighed happily.

"Why?" he asked, wondering at her relief. "What did _you_ think he did?"

"Lizzie just… you know, what? Never mind," she said, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter."

"If it's Lizzie, it's bound to be good," he said.

"Wait, you said she called the Gemini adoptive children of earth?" she asked. "You know what that means, right?"

"Don't say it," he grumbled.

"Basically Lizzie and Josie are your _sisters_ ," she said, grinning.

"I told you not to say it."

She laughed; she was going to have too much fun teasing him about that.

"So that's why you had the protection last night and this morning? Because you didn't know for sure?" she asked.

"I think it _is_ possible," he said slowly.

"Thanks for letting me know," she said. "I'll get on birth control as soon as we get back."

"Right," he said, wilting inside a little. He knew it wouldn't be that easy. That's why he bought more protection before he even told her about it.

"Ryan?" she asked, seeing his face. "You didn't think I was going to say something else, did you?"

"No, I didn't," he said. "You made your feelings clear before…"

"I'm eighteen, Ryan," she said, realizing that he had been hoping for something different even if he hadn't expected it. "I haven't even finished high school. That is no where near my mind right now. I don't know if it ever _will_ be."

"I know that," he nodded, understanding more of where she was coming from.

"Ryan," she looked down and put her hand on top of his. "The Mikaelsons are special. My family wouldn't even exist if my great aunt hadn't used black magic to help my grandmother conceive. But, as you well know, there are always consequences. The magic… the first born child of every generation is more powerful than all the ones before. _That_ , coupled with my other powers, and combined with whatever your mother meant about _yours_? I'm not sure I want to do that to any child."

"So you're saying no," he said, trying to absorb all the information she just gave him. He knew that might be a lot to put on a kid, but they wouldn't be a child forever. And, if she was the one meant for him, wouldn't that mean any child of theirs was meant to be too?

"I'm saying _definitely_ not right now," she said. "I don't know when. Maybe after Nik grows up and has kids? At least then his child would have the magic, but not everything else?"

Nik. As in her one-year-old cousin.

"That could take twenty or more years," he said. "And if you become a vampire in that time, it might not even be possible." And if she didn't, if she aged that far, she might not be able to conceive for the age reason alone.

"Can we just focus on _us_?" she asked. "We've only just begun. We have no idea what will happen a year from now, or even next week. Can we just enjoy right now?"

"Yeah," he said, reaching out for her. "You're right. I spent too long not being able to. I went a little crazy thinking I could."

"I get it," she said, moving into his arms. "Just love me and let me love you."

"I can definitely focus on that," he said, kissing her gently.

"Good," she said. "Because I have a lot more to learn."

"Better get a move on teaching you," he said.

"Please do."

* * *

She loved this dream.

Looking around, she saw that her family home was decorated once again for the holiday.

A grand Christmas Ball was in full swing. The decorations were festive and elegant with garland, lights, wreaths, and bows. A magnificent tree, completely surrounded by gifts stacked high.

Every guest was dressed for the occasion in beautiful gowns and tuxedos.

She looked around.

She saw her aunts and her uncle, her brother… but she didn't see her parents like usual.

Leaning against the bar counter she was standing near, she looked around again.

Spying Lizzie across the room, she had to smile at seeing her with MG. The two were talking and holding their wine flutes. Lizzie noticed her and raised her glass filled with the darkest red wine in toast.

Hope reached for her own wine glass sitting on the counter next to her elbow and raised hers to her friend.

She took a drink then pulled the glass down, frowning at it.

That wasn't wine.

She felt something strange in her mouth. She sat the glass down and raised a hand to her lips, sliding her fingers across the skin above. 

Something was different.

She turned around to the bar and saw a mirror off to the side. She walked quickly over to it. She opened her mouth.

_Fangs._

She stared at them, understanding now that she was a vampire. Somehow she activated her vampire side.

 _Was this a dream? Or a premonition?_ She looked up at the mirror to take in the rest of her face.

Sighing in relief, she noted that she looked older—at least older than eighteen. Her face had thinned out slightly. So whenever she turned, it hadn't been as a teenager. She looked to be in her early twenties. She could live with that _if_ it were a premonition.

She turned back to the bar counter. Seeing a stack of invitations that security must have left there as the evening wore on, she picked one up, hoping to find a year.

**Hope and Ryan Mikaelson cordially invite you to a Mikaelson Family Christmas…**

_Not a premonition then_ , she thought, laughing to herself.

There was no way he would take her name.

She saw the rings on her left hand, a beautiful diamond with a thin silver band next to it.

_Right?_

She read on.

 **December 17** **th** **, 2039.**

**Join us to celebrate the holiday with food, drink, and dancing!**

**Riley requests gifts for the giving tree, to pass along to local children for her 5th** **birthday.**

_Riley?_

Who was that?

"Mom!"

Hope didn't know why, but for some reason she looked up having heard the name.

A little girl with long dark curly hair was making her way to her. Her arm was behind her as her hand was clasped in Ryan's, who was bent down as she tugged him along.

 _Mom_?

She looked at the card again. 2039. If she was five-years-old, that meant she was born in 2034. Hope would've been twenty-one.

Nik was only ten now.

_This had to be a dream, right?_

She put the card down and walked toward them.

 _Riley_ … for Ryan and Hayley.

Her heart melted as she gazed down at the child.

Her hair and the shape of her eyes were Ryan's. 

The blue of her eyes, and the tiny features of her pert little nose, her chin, and even her mouth, looked exactly like Hope did in photos of her at that age.

Ryan picked the girl up, settling her onto his right side and smiled at Hope.

"Mom, you should see all the presents people brought!" Riley said, grinning happily. "The kids are going to love them."

"I'm sure they will," Hope said, staring at the child in wonder.

"Look what I found," Riley held up a small spring of mistletoe in her right hand, her left hand resting on her father's shoulder.

"Do you know what that is?" Hope asked.

"Uh huh," Riley nodded.

She moved the greenery to her other hand. She needed her right hand clear.

The child quickly raised the index and middle finger of her right hand to her lips, kissing them, then held the two fingers out to her mother.

Hope kissed her own fingers, meeting them to Riley's, connecting them in their own secret handshake.

The way Hope always did with her own mother.

Riley giggled, "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too…" Hope said softly, glancing at Ryan who was smiling. 

He was happier than she had ever seen him before.

"Always and forever."

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Coming in July, 2020

** A What The Hell, Universe?! Sequel… **

_Prologue…_

Darkness lies in all of us.

No matter what you do, you can't escape it.

It'll find you because it's a part of you.

If you can't learn to live with it, if, instead, you embrace it, it can destroy you.

Though, perhaps, love is the greatest destroyer of all.

Darkness can take a break this weekend though.

My boyfriend's in town and he'll be here any minute.

My name is Hope Mikaelson, and I'm in love with a mudman.

graphic by: [@hopeforhopan_](https://instagram.com/hopeforhopan_?igshid=1j6vxo1n16mv1)

** Note From Sharon **

Thank you for all the support as I’ve written this. I’ve had so much fun; I don’t want it to end! Therefore, it’s not. There’s so much more story to tell.

I’m taking a brief break until July. Time to write a oneshot or two, catch up on laundry, learn to create a diaper cake for my niece’s baby shower, celebrate a couple virtual graduations with my nephews, rewatch the first two seasons of Dark in time for the season three premiere, and, of course, plot out the sequel to What The Hell, Universe!?

The Last Gemini will be here before you know it.

Everyone take care, stay safe, and I’ll see you in July!

All my love,

Sharon  
gleechild  
the1nonlyglee

PS: If this story inspires you creatively, _please_ share your beautiful graphics and stories with me! I'd love to see or read them all. Anything Holarke is a win in my book! 

** Thank Yous! **

  * My Discord Friends for all the love, support, and encouragement!
  * Vicky, my very first Holarke friend and an avid supporter! Also, creator of my kickass banner for the sequel! View her gorgeous Holarke graphics on IG: [@hopeforhopan_](https://instagram.com/hopeforhopan_?igshid=1j6vxo1n16mv1)
  * Rissy, my musical inspiration, providing part of my soundtrack to writing WTHU. View her stories as HopeMikaelson-Clarke on [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeMikaelsonClarke/pseuds/HopeMikaelsonClarke) & [FFN](https://m.fanfiction.net/u/1301486/Hope-Mikaelson-Clarke) TVDu graphics on [IG](https://instagram.com/hopemikaelson_clarke?igshid=v6xccaxegfcf).
  * Liz, my mythology expert, suggesting monsters to join the fray with my own and enhancing the story exponentially, as well as naming road trip restaurants ;) View Liz' stories as ElijahsElena on [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElijahsElena/pseuds/ElijahsElena) & [FFN](https://m.fanfiction.net/u/1738867/ElijahsElena)
  * Kylee, for always spreading joy and suggesting archangels, which lead to Ryan’s biblical names list. View her stories on [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopanForever2020/pseuds/HopanForever2020) & [FFN](https://m.fanfiction.net/u/6746509/LivwellisUltimate?a=s).
  * Kalei, my amazing niece for being my sounding board for a lot of this
  * Romaine, my coworker who has never watched anything in TVDu but listens to me plot things out loud—and will continue to do so *giggle*
  * All of the Readers, whose comments and reviews have encouraged me and provided me with much support, love, and laughter throughout this process.



Thank you all!

** Soundtrack to What The Hell, Universe!? **

_Theme_ : “The Last of The Real Ones” by Fall Out Boy

 _First Kiss:_ “Heaven” by Kane Brown

 _Those Pajamas:_ “Goddess” by Avril Lavigne

 _Dream Dances:_ “Dancing With Your Ghost” by Sasha Sloan

 _Clarke’s Past_ : “Zombie” by The Pretty Reckless

 _Road Trip_ : “Already Callin’ You Mine” by Parmalee

 _Sleep Cuddles:_ “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith

 _Clarke’s Desperation_ : “Hold Me While You Wait” by Lewis Capaldi

 _Seylah & Hope's Battle Cry_: “Warrior” by Avril Lavigne

 _Falling In Love_ : “Hanging By A Moment” by Lifehouse

 _Clarke vs Malivore_ : “Superhero” by Falling In Reverse

 _Holarke_ : “No Matter What” by Papa Roach

[**What The Hell, Universe?! YouTube Playlist**](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiCd-d0_KqBZcedmun7yhHR05onYoSV-w)\- I created a playlist on YouTube of just the songs above for easy listening if you prefer that app! 

[**Legacies: Holarke (Hopan) Spotify Playlist**](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wFIv3qUIManDMChxUwKuu?si=36cQuf2XQ2aQMJXwyapLkQ) \- I’ve moved the above songs to the top of the list for easy listening. The rest of the list includes other songs that make me think of Holarke, but not necessarily in context with WTHU. Enjoy!


End file.
